Overview

Founded in February 2008 by a team of entrepreneurs with former corporate experience in consumer healthcare, we have established a platform of core technologies and products by acquisition, in-house development and in-licensing.

We operate from the United Kingdom working with a range of partners in pharmaceutical technology, drug delivery and manufacturing to provide a unique service by bringing together leading edge science with innovative product development to meet patient and market needs.

Our Business Model

OXP 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 and OTC 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.

OXP 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 licence 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.

Delivery Systems

OxpChew™ Solid State Suspensions

For further information visit www.ellactiva.com

Solid state suspensions (soft chews), where an insoluble active ingredient is suspended in a semi-solid matrix, provide for very rapid dissolution profiles and superior taste masking. These are an ideal delivery format for children. Our OxpChew™ solid state suspensions are matrices comprised of sugar and non-sugar carbohydrates which are naturally sweet and act as an excellent taste masker. We have a granted patent in the UK for this delivery system and expect the European patent application to be granted in 2012.

We currently market a calcium supplement using this technology where calcium carbonate particles are uniformly and substantially dispersed over the matrix. The matrix primarily composed of carbohydrates dissolves quickly at stomach conditions, helps the "wetting" of each individual particle, and releases them in conditions ideal for solubilisation. Tests on dissolution have demonstrated significant improvements in the dissolution profile of this system relative to standard calcium tablets and chewable tablets.

OxpLiquid™ Suspension System

Gels, syrups or suspensions are widely used delivery systems for a range of medicaments and nutraceuticals. The formulation of these poses a number of challenges including dispersing hydrophobic ingredients, maintaining stability and providing for acceptable organoleptic properties. Typically, formulations use a range of surfactant and stabilisers and also tend to have sugars or sweeteners added for flavour enhancement.

We have developed a proprietary suspension system for the delivery of medicines and nutraceuticals without the need for traditional surfactant and stabiliser ingredients. Our system not only has excellent suspendability but also is very stable.

OxpLiquid™ has the ability to effectively wet and disperse hydrophobic ingredients. Furthermore, it is comprised of a simple base formulation that can be manufactured via a one step mixing process which is simple and cost effective.

The system is an ideal delivery vehicle for medicines for children or the elderly. It is ideally suited for difficult to suspend and poor tasting ingredients.

Chewable Tablets (Chewitabs™)

Dysphagia is a common problem for children and the elderly and taking tablets is commonly perceived as an unpleasant event. Responding to this, many medicines and supplements have been introduced in either a chewable tablet or an orally disintegrating form. Chewitabs™, our proprietary chewable tablets, produce a light crunch when bitten and then dissolve quickly in the mouth and therefore can be taken without water. They are well suited for convenience driven OTC medicines such as analgesics, allergy treatments, digestive aids and medicines for the elderly, as well as vitamins and supplements.

Chewitabs™ can be manufactured using standard tablet compression equipment and pressures, and come in a range of sizes to allow for different doses of ingredients to be incorporated.

Studies have been performed to demonstrate increased dissolution rate from our chewable tablets when compared to standard chewable tablet technology using sugars and sugar alcohols as excipients

Technologies

OxpZero™

OxpZero™ is a technology platform that allows acidic and anionic drugs to be administered orally without bad taste or irritation in non-tablet form and without affecting the release properties of the drug in the body.

The OxpZero™ platform includes intellectual property and know-how on the design and use of novel salts of the specific drug, the low cost manufacture of the novel salts and on the formulation and manufacturing of finished products using these. OxpZero™ is ideally suitable for the development of non tablet forms such as liquids, gels, chewables, ODT's (orally disintegrating tablets) where taste, irritation or stability of the drug active or finished product have previously hindered successful results.

OxpZero™ is based on a novel salt system for acidic and anionic APIs where the API is surrounded in a layered structure which protects the API. The salt is insoluble in the mouth but it readily dissolves in the acidic environment of the stomach releasing the API in the anionic form without affecting its release profile.

For further information please click here

OxpTarget™

OxpTarget™ is a drug delivery technology that provides for superior controlled delivery of drugs to the distal ileum, proximal colon and colon using dual pH and bacterial trigger systems.

The targeting of drugs to the colon can be utilised as a means to achieving localised therapy for disease states such us irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, diarrhoea, infection and carcinoma, but also as a portal for the entry of drugs into the systemic circulation potentially improving the clinical profile of certain drugs.

An international patent application for the technology was filed in 2007, with a priority claim to an earlier British case filed in 2006 which is now entering the national and regional phase.

The company is using the technology to develop applications develop a next generation application for a major drug category across markets worldwide.

For information on the Products please click here

David Norwood, Non-Executive Chairman

David Norwood , former chief executive of the stockbrokers Beeson Gregory and a former director of Evolution, is the founder of the London Stock Exchange listed company, IP Group plc, which specialises in the development of intellectual property based businesses. David is one of the early shareholders in Oxford Pharmascience and his appointment at the Company heralds Mr. Norwood´s long-standing commitment to building science based UK businesses. David is currently Chairman of Retroscreen Virology Limited, Europe´s leading specialist virology contract research organisation.

Marcelo Bravo, Chief Technology Officer 

Marcelo Bravo is a founder of Oxford Pharmascience and an entrepreneur with a background in chemistry and chemical engineering and international experience with blue-chip companies. Marcelo spent 16 years in R&D with The Procter & Gamble Company and subsequently spent 3 years in corporate development with Boots (now Boots Alliance Plc). After this he became an entrepreneur and most recently was CEO and Board director of Oxford Advanced Surfaces Group Plc, a company he led from inception as a spin-out from Oxford University which is now quoted on the AIM market. Marcelo has extensive experience in developing, launching and growing new products and businesses across a range of both geographic and product markets. Marcelo holds a B.A. in Chemistry from the College of Wooster, USA and a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, USA and an M.Sc in Management from the London Business School.

Nigel Theobald, Chief Executive Officer 

Nigel Theobald has a background in marketing and product development in the OTC consumer healthcare market as well as considerable business development experience with blue chip companies. Nigel worked for Boots (now Boots Alliance Plc) for 13 years in a number of commercial and strategic roles including Category Manager for OTC Medicines and Head of Healthcare Brand Development. Nigel set up a consultancy to advise ingredient technology firm Alltracel to launch new products and establish commercial partnerships and worked closely with established health care brands prior to setting up Omscan Ltd, a consumer healthcare production distribution business in the UK, which he sold in 2008. Nigel holds a B.Sc in Economics from Southampton University.

Mike Bretherton, Finance Director 

Michael Bretherton graduated in Economics from University of Leeds in 1978. He worked as an accountant and manager with PriceWaterhouse for seven years in both London and the Middle East. He subsequently worked for The Plessey Company Plc before being appointed finance director of the fully listed Bridgend Group Plc in 1988 where he was involved in the strategic evaluation and commercial implementation of a broad range of business initiatives over a twelve year period. More recently he has worked at the property and services company, Mapeley Limited as financial operations director and then at the entertainment software games developer, Lionhead Studios Limited, in 2002 where he helped to complete a Venture Capital syndicate funding and also a trade sale of the business to Microsoft in 2006. Michael is currently an executive director of ORA Capital Partners Limited and is also a director for a number of other AIM quoted companies.

James White, Non Executive Director 

James White has extensive experience in operations, product development, regulatory, sales and marketing and general management. James worked for Osmetech Plc for 11 years in a number of senior positions including as Chief Executive for the period 2000 to 2009. Osmetech has operations in the UK and USA and is focused on providing molecular diagnostic technologies through a global sales distribution network. James has a track record of mergers and acquisitions, disposals and fundraising in the UK, USA and Europe and was previously a senior consultant in Arthur D Little's corporate finance practice where he specialised in advising on investments in small and medium sized companies.

As at 24 November 2011, shareholders holding more than 3% of the share capital of Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc were:

Updated from company website 13/01/2012