NicOx SA announced positive top-line results from a 118 patient Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) trial (the 111 study), which compared the 24-hour blood pressure profile of escalating doses of naproxcinod and naproxen in osteoarthritis (OA) patients with controlled hypertension.

The primary ABPM parameter was the mean 24-hour ambulatory systolic blood pressure (SBP) measured by ABPM over the whole study period and naproxcinod showed a statistically significant decrease in SBP of 3.8 mmHg (p=0.011) compared to naproxen. Furthermore, in contrast to naproxen, naproxcinod reduced the mean 24-hour SBP and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) from baseline at every dose comparison. Good safety and tolerability were shown by all naproxcinod doses. NicOx plans to provide further details of the results at a leading cardiology conference in 2009.

Naproxcinod is the first investigational drug in the new Cyclooxygenase-Inhibiting Nitric Oxide-Donator (CINOD) class of anti-inflammatory agents, which is nearing the end of phase-3 clinical development for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis, with the submission of a New Drug Application (NDA) with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) projected for mid-2009. NicOx expects to have the results of a second large ABPM study in patients with hypertension and OA (112) before the end of 2008, in addition to the results of the remaining pivotal phase-3 trial in hip OA (303).

COX-2 inhibitors and traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as naproxen and ibuprofen, are widely used as symptomatic treatments for OA. However, they can cause new episodes of high blood pressure and destabilize previously controlled hypertensive patients, which is a particular concern in the OA population where approximately 50% of patients are estimated to be hypertensive.

"These impressive results suggest that naproxcinod could represent a valuable treatment alternative for osteoarthritis patients," said Raymond Townsend, Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, who advised NicOx on the design and analysis of the study. "The hypertensive side effects of COX-2 inhibitors and traditional NSAIDs are a serious medical issue and there is a clear need for a new drug with no detrimental effect on blood pressure. These ABPM data have been obtained in a relevant population of chronically treated osteoarthritis patients with many cardiovascular risk factors and clearly show a consistent beneficial effect on blood pressure for naproxcinod across the dose range, in contrast to naproxen. In addition, the use of the ABPM technique gives them considerable weight, as it is widely recognized as the gold standard method for assessing the blood pressure profile of new drugs."

Michele Garufi, chairman and CEO of NicOx, commented, "These excellent results are an important addition to the consistent data we are accumulating on naproxcinod's potentially non-detrimental blood pressure profile and its clear differentiation from naproxen. We are confident that naproxcinod's potential will be confirmed by the further clinical results expected in the coming months."

The three doses of naproxcinod showed good general safety and tolerability. In the naproxcinod arm 32 patients (54.2 per cent) experienced one or more adverse events, compared to 38 patients (64.4 per cent) in the naproxen arm. There were no serious adverse events in the naproxcinod arm.

NicOx, a product-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and future commercialization of investigational drugs for unmet medical needs.