The Plunger1 Jun 2016 14:20
The RNS released on the 25/01 states explicitly that OXP are entering partner discussions
Oxford Pharmascience Group plc
("Oxford Pharmascience" or the "Company")
Ready to enter partnering discussions on key OXPzeroTM NSAIDs
Oxford Pharmascience, the Company that redevelops medicines to make them better, safer and easier to take, today announces that it has finalised commercial materials to allow the Company to enter partnering discussions for both its OXPzeroTM Ibuprofen and OXPzeroTM Naproxen assets.
The Company reported in November 2015 that it was in the final stages of completing preparation of these commercial discussion materials for the OXPzeroTM Ibuprofen platform. This task has now been completed and, with further technical progress made in recent months across the wider platform, the Board is now pursuing opportunities for commercialisation of both its lead OXPzeroTM Ibuprofen asset and OXPzeroTM Naproxen. Ibuprofen and naproxen are the two dominant NSAID molecules in the pain relief and anti-inflammatory sector, with combined worldwide sales in excess of $5bn per annum.(1)
OXPzeroTM NSAIDs have been demonstrated to deliver a range of key benefits that offer competitive advantage and meaningful differentiation. Specifically, by comparison with generic oral tablets, OXPzeroTM NSAIDs:
- are milder in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, delivering major reduction in GI mucosal damage;
- completely mask the bitter taste/burn associated with NSAIDs; and
- deliver an attractive PK profile with adaptable drug release properties.
These characteristics enable multiple advantaged product applications across over-the-counter, pharmacist-only sales and prescription markets. The Company has identified major opportunities in:
- Pain: OXP believes that the GI mildness of the OXPzeroTM products can be capitalised on in order to address the needs of patients exposed to higher risk of GI damage. For example, OXPzeroTM NSAIDs can be widely used in pain management for the over-60s as well as the treatment of chronic or severe pain in other age groups, with reduced GI risks;
- Cough and Cold: Ibuprofen has inherent advantages in efficacy and duration of effect versus paracetamol, however paracetamol dominates non-tablet forms of cough and cold remedies because of its GI mildness and taste advantages. OXPzeroTM NSAID products enable superior, longer lasting, non-tablet forms versus paracetamol without the inferior GI profile or taste issues associated with standard ibuprofen; and
- Easy-to-take, non-tablet products: formulations of OXPzeroTM products lend themselves to being taken 'on the move'. For example, the technology allows for high dose (200mg/5ml) suspension formulations which are not currently available due to the bitter taste/burn of Ibuprofen at that dose level.
As previously announced, the Company initiated contact in 2015 with a number of large, glo