Oxford Pharm Gp Share Discussion Threads

[gnnmartin] 09/2/2014 15:23

Timbo, I have long had difficulty distinguishing OXP's approach to NSAIDs from the enteric coating approach. Perhaps I've asked you before and forgotten the answer, but reading your post 412 suggests that the distinction is that the barrier between the ibuprofen and the stomach takes place at a finer level. In other words, an enteric coated ibuprofin tablet passes into the gut in tablet form, whereas the OXP ibuprofin passes into the gut as a suspension, so once in the gut the OXP formulation is more readily absorbed.

I may well be putting 2 & 2 together and making 47.63. Do let me know (again?) what the difference is if I have got it wrong. I must try to remember to ask at the next OXP meeting I go to. Although I think I must have asked before, I obviously did not understand the answer well enough to remember it.
Nigel Martin

PS. I do remember being told by OXP that the oxp ibuprofin formulation would be more readily absorbed once it reached the gut, but I did not understand why at the time, and did not press the question.

[supernumerary] 08/2/2014 21:04

Also turned up with a big chunk of Ilika:

[timbo003] 08/2/2014 19:51

Praipus

I first became aware of Richard Griffiths, through ORA'a large shareholding in OXP.

ORA delisted in June last year


In October 2013 ORA performed an in specie distribution of their quoted portfolio (which included OXP) to their shareholders, who included Richard Griffiths, Mike Bretherton and David Norwood (OXP chairman).


According to the last ORA annual report, the listed portfolio consisted of the companies below

(Also see the Chairman's report, which is worth a read)

Antisoma Plc
Quoram Plc
Ceres Power Plc
East Balkan Properties Plc
GVC Holdings Plc
Nanoco Group Plc
Novum Securities Limited
Oxford Advanced Surfaces Plc
Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc
Plant Health Care Plc
Silence Therapeutics Plc
Tissue Regenix Group Plc

Presumably Richard Griffith turned up on a number of these share registers, around October last year.

Interesting to see that David Norwood is involved with another life science IPO (4d Pharma) which is due later this month, although no sign of the other two being involved at this stage.





Hits since October 24th

[praipus] 07/2/2014 15:55

Hi timb003 when you have a moment can you tell me about Richard Griffiths?

I keep noticing him and Mike on the register of interesting stocks:-)

[supernumerary] 07/2/2014 13:44

Burbelly - touché. But remember, the share price is a fickle mistress...

timbo - yes, thanks again. It does sound from the abstract as though the control patients are highly likely to suffer damage, but it obviously remains to be seen what happens to the test patients. Let's hope they publish full results.

[timbo003] 07/2/2014 13:44

Found this (page 36) which is also of some relevance:



It's an MHRA public assessment report on ibuprofen 400mg soft gels:


The MAH provided a discussion of Study X, an endoscopy safety study comparing two salt formulations of ibuprofen (lysinate and sodium dihydrate) with standard ibuprofen and placebo after repeat dosing. In general, ibuprofen salts show a faster absorption which is characterised by a higher Cmax and a shorter Tmax. In Study X, evidence of higher Lanza scores was provided with ibuprofen salts compared to standard ibuprofen. The ibuprofen salts displayed a significantly more unfavourable gastrointestinal safety profile in comparison to standard ibuprofen, although when this study was conducted a modified Lanza scoring system was used. In Study X the maximum daily dose and the maximum treatment duration for OTC were exceeded by 400 mg ibuprofen and 3 days respectively. Nevertheless the findings of Study X are considered to be of value with regard to the safety evaluation of rapidly absorbed ibuprofen formulations. The increased endoscopy lesion and bleeding score associated with the lysinate and sodium dihydrate formulations are considered relevant to the liquid formulation of potassium ibuprofen present in the Nurofen 400 mg soft capsule formulation.


Note the text in bold, for the avoidance of doubt, OXP001 is of course an ibuprofen salt.




Hits since October 24th

[timbo003] 07/2/2014 13:18

Here you go supernumerary

This should give you some reassurance regarding short term use of ibuprofen (even at high doses).



Also note, the author is Lanza FL, as in the eponymous Lanza scores




Hits since October 24th

[burbelly] 07/2/2014 12:57

no we only have the share price to reassure us

[supernumerary] 07/2/2014 12:20

timbo - thanks, that's reassuring (although possibly not so much so for holders).

[timbo003] 07/2/2014 11:56

Supernumerary

See comments in above post, which addresses some of those points.

I think it is unlikely that you would see any significant GI irritation with a single 400mg dose, in fact I doubt if you would see much after 1 week at 400mg 3 times daily. At least they have opted for a dose of 800mg (2 X 400mg) three times daily, so they are in with a chance of showing an affect with the control, which is absolutely necessary, if the study is to be meaningful.


Hits since October 24th

[timbo003] 07/2/2014 11:46

Now found it



A few initial thoughts:

* There are some similarities between the design of the OXP001 study and the Pozen study, both are two way parallel design vs controls, both use endoscopy, both use Lanza score as primary endpoint.

* OXP are using an 800mg dose 3 times daily, this is good, they might have opted for 400mg, 3 times daily, the higher dose gives a better challenge and so less ambiguity in interpreting results.

* Pozen used 80 volunteers, OXP are using only 40, this may not be enough.

* OXP are only dosing for 7 days, Pozen dosed for 28 days. 7 days may not be enough to produce a decent Lanza score in either treatment group.

* OXP are dosing under fasting conditions (don't know what how Pozen dosed, it's not stated), the label states ibuprofen should be taken with food, so whatever they find in this study, it may not be reproduced in a phase III clinical with real patients who will take product with food.

* There will definitely be much less chance of showing a difference between OXP001 (or any other gastro protective formulation for that matter) vs control, when taken with food compared as opposed to fasting conditions. The reason being, food provides a buffering effect (which is likely to swamp any buffering effect from the OXP001 formulation) which will reduce the irritant effects of the ibuprofen in both the test formulation and the control.

* Whilst not explicitly stated, it sound like OXP are going to measure drug blood levels, if they are measuring blood, this is good, otherwise if OXP001 were to show an effect vs control, there would be no way of knowing whether this was due to the drug not being released from the dosage form, also the PK data gives an indication on speed of action, which could impact on labelling.

* Given that they are only dosing for 7 days, they might be able to report study results by end of Q3.


Hits since October 24th

[supernumerary] 07/2/2014 11:17

timbo - is 400mg really a risky dose for a healthy adult? I buy them otc and take them without a second thought (not regularly I hasten to add) - should one be taking any precautions (eg only with food) or is occasional use as risk-free as I'd always assumed? When does it start getting dangerous?

[burbelly] 07/2/2014 10:54

REACTION---

Oxford Pharmascience (LON:OXP) has passed another milestone, this time with regulatory approval to start a pilot clinical study of its OXP001 Ibuprofen formulation.

The UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and the Ethics Review Committee have given the go-ahead for a study on OXP001, which delivers 400mg of ibuprofen via the company's OXPzero technology.

The company specialises in redeveloping medicines that make them better, safer and easier to take, and in OXP001's case, the emphasis is on reducing the risks of gastrointestinal (GI) side effects for use in the treatment of conditions requiring the chronic use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Although NSAIDs are widely prescribed across the globe, with an estimated 30mln users each day worldwide, the user base would be bigger still were it not for GI side effects, such as ulcers and bleeding.

"Securing regulatory approval for our initial in-human clinical trial has achieved another important milestone in the development of safer NSAIDs via our OXPZero technology," said Marcelo Bravo, Oxford's chief technology officer.

"The pilot clinical study will be a two arm study between OXP001 and reference Ibuprofen 400 mg tablets in a total of 44 healthy adults and will assess the incidence of upper gastrointestinal irritation via endoscopy. Patient recruitment will start shortly aiming to dose the first patient early in March," Bravo added.

House broker N+1 Siger said Oxford Pharmascience continues to make headway in its development with the regulatory approval a key milestone.

"OXP001 has the potential to offer a new treatment option for patients requiring NSAIDs long term," the broker said.

"We continue to be extremely upbeat about the group as it continues its drive to become a major player in the re-formulation market," N+1 Singer added.

[timbo003] 06/2/2014 23:12

Another big trade (33,805,524 shares) today at mid price, which is just over 3%.

No obvious culprits this time. Googling "33,805,524" and "Oxford" comes up with nothing, so my guess would be Invesco doing a bit more tidying up with its various portfolios, now Neil Woodford is moving on.





Hits since October 24th 2013

[timbo003] 28/1/2014 19:01

LOL, very good BB, but please, not whilst I'm drinking a hot cuppa!

44M is a notifiable holding, so presumably there will be one or more RNS announcements to follow in due course. It did make me wonder though, as to whether it was anything to do with a change in guard at Invesco, now that Neil Woodford is moving on.

Sure enough, it looks like it probably is, see bottom of table in this link:



and then read:



So a new broom from today and it looks like Mark couldn't wait to get started, I wonder if he reads our musings on this message board.




Hits since October 24th 2013

[burbelly] 28/1/2014 12:32

chunky old trade! was that your buy Tim?

44,876,831

[praipus] 21/1/2014 10:42

Timbo003 re 383 brilliant thank you.

[doodlebug4] 21/1/2014 09:33

"Nigel Theobald: We're delighted that we've doubled sales again. We've been consistently growing our base business. The sales that we've achieved are primarily from our original calcium products that we sell in Asia and Brazil. The Brazilian partner, Aché, have just done exceptionally well with the product and that's been a major contributor to the sales group.

It shows that when we do get products on market we will achieve very strong sales. That's really what our business is all about."

[timbo003] 20/1/2014 23:13

Doodlebug, I'm not asking you or anyone else to buy Verona, it was you who asked me for an opinion on other shares. Remember?

If you are so concerned about some of my opinions on OXP, why don't you just do some research and counter them with reasoned arguments, rather than just complain.

Also, you should note, that I have at times been quite complementary about OXP's taste mask technology, so I am not all negative. It just so happens that I think that they have strayed away from their area of expertise and they have taken on two ultra high risk projects which, IMO, are destined to fail.

[doodlebug4] 20/1/2014 22:57

Hardly an objective view of OXP's prospects timbo, a rather slanted view imo. I haven't seen one single thing about VRP that would make me want to buy. In fact, apart from VRP, there are plenty of shares that I personally wouldn't touch with a bargepole, but I don't spend my time on the various threads trashing their prospects and trying to convince investors that they don't know what they are doing. Apart from suggesting that private investors don't know what they are doing investing in OXP, you have also suggested that the BOD of OXP don't know what they are doing either.

[timbo003] 20/1/2014 19:07

Doodlebug, you appear to have a vivid imagination. I have not pumped anything, I was responding to a request. I have not recommended anything and what exactly what has 19p in 2009 got to do with Verona's current prospects? Furthermore, you currently have no idea when I first bought shares in Verona.

You might not like it when I give an objective analysis of OXP's prospects, but I will continue to do so if I wish to, if you don't like it I suggest you filter me. Simple.

[finnkedin] 20/1/2014 18:49

I have bought and sold this share a couple of times since early 2012 (when it was just above 1 p), have made c100% each time, that's what I buy shares for. I don't hold anything for the long term, long term I will be dead. Bought another tranche recently and expect it to reward me again. If the negative gentleman starts praising the company I will take that as a sell sign.

[doodlebug4] 20/1/2014 18:14

I rest my case timbo, if there was ever any doubt you have a hidden agenda against OXP you have just proved it. Thank you! You keep pumping VRP mate - 19p in 2009 and just look at the share price now - the chart is still rubbish, apart from anything else.

[timbo003] 20/1/2014 17:12

Priapus and Doodlebug

I currently own shares in 3 different companies in the small pharma sector:


Verona (VRP): Focusing on Cough and COPD, AIM quoted, market cap around £15M

Scancell (SCLP): Cancer Vaccines, Aim quoted, market cap around £80M

Celsus (CLSXD): Novel anti-inflammatory agents, OTC bulletin board quoted, market cap around $40M

Of the three, I think Verona has the greatest upside potential on a 6 - 12 month basis. In fact I picked it as my selection for the 2014 share comp on one of the more popular Motley Fool bulletin boards, the link to my write up on Verona is here if you are interested: