Progression of Reduced Gastric Irritation Naproxen

Oxford Pharmascience Group plc

("Oxford Pharmascience" or the "Company")

Oxford Pharmascience Announces Progressionof Reduced Gastric Irritation Taste Masked Naproxen

Oxford Pharmascience, the specialty pharmaceutical company that redevelops medicines to make them better, safer and easier to take, today announces that it has successfully synthesised reduced gastric irritation taste masked naproxen at lab scale and is progressing to manufacturing scale-up and clinical proof of concept.

In June this year, the Company announced the positive results of its pilot clinical study of reduced gastric irritation ibuprofen and that it would advance development to apply this exciting technology to other commonly used Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs). Following these encouraging results, the Company has accelerated the application of the technology to the four most commonly used NSAIDs, aiming to take naproxen, diclofenac and aspirin forward alongside ibuprofen.

The Company's novel salt of naproxen aims to provide significantly reduced risks of gastrointestinal (GI) side effects for use in the treatment of conditions requiring the chronic use of NSAIDs and is also completely taste masked allowing the formulation of "burn-free" non-tablet forms. This reflects the Company's ability to improve the properties of commonly used medicines. The synthesis of reduced gastric irritation naproxen also represents encouraging, early stage confirmation that these improvements can be applied to other drugs in the same class. NSAIDs are one of the most widely used classes of drugs, with more than 30 million users worldwide consuming NSAIDs each day. However, chronic use of NSAIDs causes well documented GI side effects including ulcers and bleeding and leads to significant morbidity and mortality in many patients. Ibuprofen, naproxen and diclofenac are the most commonly used drugs for pain and inflammation and aspirin is widely used as an antiplatelet agent.

Marcelo Bravo, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"Oxford Pharmascience has made great progress applying its technology to other NSAIDs and we are excited by the progression of naproxen into scale-up and readiness for further Proof of Concept evaluation. Diclofenac and aspirin are expected to follow closely behind. We believe that moving forward with the four main NSAIDs in parallel represents a more compelling proposition for adding further shareholder value, as it increases the potential licensing scope and value of applying our technology across multiple products in the anti-inflammatory pain relief category.

"We are now prioritising our work to demonstrate that reduced gastric irritation is a class effect for NSAIDS formulated using our technology and also to establish comparable absorption vs. standard (generic) ibuprofen and naproxen. Our aim is build a robust clinical data package to enable the commercialisation of a number of NSAID assets in 2015 and beyond."

For further information:

Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc

Marcelo Bravo, Chief Executive +44 20 7554 5875

N+1 Singer

Aubrey Powell / Jen Boorer +44 20 7496 3000

About Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc

Oxford Pharmascience 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 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.