From April--For Newbies8 Sep 2016 22:20
http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/kissing-frogs-paved-way-pound-60m-drugs-palace/story-29014339-detail/story.html
N4 Pharma: Has kissing frogs paved the way for a £60m drugs palace?
By Derby Telegraph | Posted: April 01, 2016
By Paul Whyatt
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image: http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/images/localworld/ugc-images/276250/Article/images/29014339/13592902-large.jpg
Nigel Theobald's firm N4 Pharma specialises in the reformulation of drugs such as Viagra.
Nigel Theobald's firm N4 Pharma specialises in the reformulation of drugs such as Viagra.
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"WHAT we've done is put the foundations down for what has the potential to become a big palace. What we've now got to do is build it a wing at a time."
These words from Nigel Theobald suggest the future of N4 Pharma - the Chellaston-based company he founded in 2014 - is an exciting one.
N4 Pharma describes itself as a "specialist pharmaceutical reformulation company". In short, it helps create new versions of existing drugs.
Since its creation, the company has been developing proof of concept data for a range of drugs with poor solubility, including a faster-acting version of sildenafil - better known as Viagra – and a single dose hepatitis B vaccine.
At the same time, the company has sought partnerships with pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology firms to take these products to regulatory approval.
Now, following two "major" announcements, N4 Pharma is tweaking its strategy. The first announcement came on March 1 – this being the news that Nigel had sold 49% of N4 Pharma to Onzima Ventures. The deal saw N4 receive £41,000 in cash from the investment company, which has also provided a loan facility of £209,000 to N4 for the development of its business.
A second announcement the following week saw N4 reveal it had expanded its intellectual property portfolio, buying rights for a wide range of patents from Scotland-based Opal IP Ltd. N4 bought a range of patents covering new uses and formulations of many leading off-patent or soon-to-come-off-patent drugs.
Nigel said the developments would see the company become "more focused" on securing patents. He said: "The deal with Opal IP is going to give us access to a whole range of different patents for reformulating existing drugs.
"That's what we're about. Can we take a formulation and improve it – like what we're doing with fast-acting Viagra? It kicks in after an hour. By owning the patent for that drug, we can make it quicker or even make it last longer. It's just about changing the profile a bit to improve its solubility.
"All these patents that belonged to Opal are now with our company and, having invested in the top intellectual property, the next step is to go on and get investment by setting up companies that will be part-owned by N4 and the new investors.
"Take Viagra – if we