Onzima Ventures bounces further on N4 Pharma patent deal

Onzima Ventures' recent investment in drug reformulations outfit N4 Pharma has paid off again as N4 acquired rights to cherry-pick the best of a wide ranging portfolio of drugs rights.

N4, in which Onzima took a 49% stake on 1 March, has acquired the exclusive global rights to evaluate the patent portfolio owned by Opal IP Ltd, a company set up by a former GlaxoSmithKline patents expert.

The acquired portfolio contains rights to drug patents for new uses and formulations of many of the world's leading off patent or soon to come off patent drugs.

Under the terms of the deal, N4 has exclusive rights to char what it believes are the most commercially valuable of Opals patents. Then N4 and Opal will sign a royalty agreement for each drug patent, leaving N4 to pursue commercial development.

N4 employs its technology platforms Cocrys and Nuvac to develop new versions of widely used drugs to make them easier to take or reduce the dose.

Opal's co-founder Peter Lawton, formerly director of life cycle maximisation and VP of global litigation strategy and patent coordination for GSK, boasts a record of developing new patents that substantially extended the life cycle management of some of the world's largest pharma brands, such as Paxil and Augmentin.

Opal has also entered into a consultancy services agreement with N4 Pharma whereby it will provide patent and formulation support in connection with the Cocrys technology.

"This arrangement with Opal massively extends our capability for formulating new versions of drugs with huge commercial potential," said N4's chief Nigel Theobald.

"It also brings us access to world leading experts to develop new patents and opportunities for the cocrystal products we are already developing using Cocrys."

"Reformulation is the key to creating value for off patent and soon to be off patent drugs and having access to the level of expertise in Opal gives us a huge advantage in this space. Not only do we have the exclusive rights to the most effective way to manufacture co-crystals we will now own the patents for a range of drugs that can be made using either Cocrys or combinations of other available reformulation technologies."

Shares in Onzima, which on Thursday invested approximately £45,000 in a fundraising by UK oil developer Regency Mines, closed 20% higher at 1.05p on Friday.