29th Sep 2014 12:08
LONDON (Alliance News) - Oxford Pharmascience Group PLC Monday posted a widened pretax loss for the half year to end-June as it upped operating costs ahead of the commercialisation of its non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
The company posted a pretax loss of GBP1.7 million for the half year, widened from a loss of GBP585,000 a year before on higher operating costs. Revenue also declined slightly to GBP336,000 from GBP501,000.
Oxford Pharmascience said the majority of its revenue was derived from its partnership with Ache Laboratorios in Brazil However there were logistical delays during the half, meaning the launch of a new line extensions by Ache has been postponed to 2015 and reducing revenue for the half year.
The higher expenses were as a result of costs relating to a clinical proof of concept trial during the period.
In June, the company saw positive results from a clinical study of its reduced gastric irritation ibuprofen product. After the results and interest from the industry, it has focused on improving the drug release profile of its technology, and applying to the most commonly used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, naproxen, diclofenac and aspirin.
The company has successfully synthesised gastric safe taste-masked naproxen at lab scale, and it is now preparing for a clinical proof of concept trial of the product.
"Our immediate priority is to run further proof-of-concept trials with ibuprofen and to get other NSAIDs ready for the clinic. Our medium-term aim is to initiate commercialisation of these assets upon the completion of various clinical and non-clinical milestones," the company said in a statement.
Shares in Oxford Pharmascience were trading up 0.8% at 4.22 pence Monday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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