Oxford Pharmascience jumps on successful pilot study

Shares in Oxford Pharmascience Group rose 9% on Friday, as the drug development group said a pilot study on its OXPzero Naproxen gastrointestinal treatment returned positive results.

The London-listed group said headline data confirmed the treatment’s immediate release technology has been successfully optimised, adding it will publish the full findings of the study over the next couple of weeks.

However, the group said the preliminary results were satisfying enough to proceed with a proof-of-concept endoscopy study to demonstrate the benefits of the product.

"Demonstrating the bioequivalence of immediate release OXPzero Naproxen is a great result and a significant milestone for Oxford Pharmascience,” said group chief executive Marcelo Bravo.

“This allows us to proceed with confidence to the endoscopy trial to demonstrate the reduced gastric irritation benefit of OXPzero Naproxen.”

Oxford Pharmascience shares were up 8.97% to 9.86p at 14:31 on Friday.