Oxford Pharmascience signs exclusive global license for colonic delivery of statins
Oxford Pharmascience, the specialty pharmaceutical company that uses advanced pharmaceutic technologies to reposition medicines, today announces it has executed its option to exclusively license a drug delivery technology from UCL Business, (the IP licensing arm of University College London) to develop and commercialise a range of re-formulated statins, using the generic drugs atorvastatin and simvastatin.
Following a successful evaluation period, the Company has established the feasibility of the delivery system in working with these drugs and undertaken a commercial evaluation to identify the potential for a range of statin products which it is launching under its Safestat™ program.
Safestat™ aims to re-formulate the widely used molecules of atorvastatin and simvastatin into doses up to four times lower than the original dose but with the same lipid lowering efficacy as the original higher dose. Early research into the concept has been extremely well received by both clinicians and healthcare payers alike.
Nigel Theobald, Chief Executive, Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc, commented:
"Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death worldwide and statins have become widely adopted as a key drug to help combat this. Global revenue from statins in 2009 was over $27bn despite the debate which is ongoing about their benefit compared to the issues caused by side effects of statins and the lack of compliance in patients taking these medicines which often results in cholesterol reduction targets being missed.
We are developing our Safestat™ program to help combat these issues. By reducing the dose of the drug but maintaining its efficacy our statin products look well placed to become a leading treatment as a second line intervention for cholesterol reduction.
Early commercial conversations are very encouraging and we are looking to license our technology to major pharmaceutical companies to co-develop products using this technology. Our safestat™ program is a massive opportunity for us to take our delivery systems into much larger established pharmaceutical markets".
For further information:
Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc
Nigel Theobald, Chief Executive
+44 1865 854874
Hybridan LLP (Broker)
Claire Noyce / Deepak Reddy
+44 20 7947 4350
ZAI Corporate Finance (Nominated Adviser)
John Depasquale / John Treacy
+44 20 7060 2220
About Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc
Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc develops advanced yet practical pharmaceutical technologies to enable reformulation that adds value to off patent and soon to be off patent drugs. The Company does not manufacture or sell its own pharmaceutical products but instead seeks to license its technologies to a network of partners, mainly leading pharmaceutical companies with Rx (prescription) and OTC (Over the Counter) branded portfolios. These partners use our technologies to reposition their products helping them sustain market share and profitability by delivering improved health outcomes and/or clinical profiles via reformulated versions of the same API (active pharmaceutical ingredient).
Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc develops platform technologies that have application across multiple drug categories and can be leveraged across a broad range of reformulation problems. This business model allows us to provide solutions across the industry and fund the ongoing development of cutting edge technologies to better serve the needs of our partners. The partner companies who adopt our technology pay an up-front license fee followed by development milestone payments and then royalties on finished products sold using the technology. OXP invests the upfront licence fee to optimise product development and to ensure seamless technology transfer to the pharmaceutical partner.