New USA Guidelines urge wider use of statins

Oxford Pharmascience Group plc

("Oxford Pharmascience" or "the Company")

New USA Guidelines urge wider use of statins

Oxford Pharmascience (AIM: OXP), the specialty pharmaceutical company that redevelops medicines to make them better, safer and easier to take, welcomes yesterday's release in the USA of the nation's first new guidelines in a decade for preventing heart attacks and strokes which call for twice as many Americans - one-third of all adults - to consider taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs

The guidelines, issued Tuesday by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology use a new formula for estimating someone's risk of stroke or heart attack that includes many factors besides cholesterol which is the main focus currently. The new guidelines also take aim at strokes, not just heart attacks and set a lower threshold for using medicines to reduce risk.

The definition of high cholesterol has not been altered but the treatment goal has been. Instead of aiming for a specific level of cholesterol, using whatever drugs get a patient to that level, the advice stresses the use of statins such as simvastatin and atorvastatin and identifies four groups of people they help the most.

"The emphasis is to try to treat more appropriately," said Dr. Neil Stone, the Northwestern University doctor who headed the cholesterol guideline panel. "We're going to give statins to those who are the most likely to benefit."

Doctors say the new approach will limit how many people with low heart risks are put on statins simply because of a cholesterol number. Yet under the new advice, 33 million Americans - 44 percent of men and 22 percent of women - would meet the threshold to consider taking a statin. Under the current guidelines, statins are recommended for only about 15 percent of adults.

Nigel Theobald, CEO of Oxford Pharmascience commented "This is fantastic news for our Safestat™ program which is developing effective lower dose versions of statins which consequently will reduce a lot of the associated side effects from taking these drugs.

Statins are already one of the world's largest drug categories and these new guidelines in effect double the market potential for safestat in the USA overnight. We totally support these new guidelines and look forward to seeing how other countries react to these changes "

For further information:

Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc

Nigel Theobald, Chief Executive +44 1865 854874

N+1 Singer

Shaun Dobson/Jenny Wyllie +44 20 7496 3000

About Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc

Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc uses a range of proprietary technology platforms to re-develop existing medicines to make them better, safer or easier to take. The Company does not manufacture or sell its own pharmaceutical products direct to consumers but instead seeks to license its technologies and dossiers to a network of partners, mainly leading pharmaceutical companies with Rx (prescription) and OTC (Over the Counter) branded portfolios.

Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc focuses on existing medicines that are proven to be safe and effective but nevertheless still have associated issues and side effects often affecting compliance. By working with such medicines the Company is able to develop new innovative products for a fraction of the cost, in much quicker timescales and without the high risk of failure associated with developing new drugs.