NiCox launches Phase III trial of osteoarthritis drug

NiCox has begun a closely watched Phase III trial for HCT-3012 for patients with osteoarthritis in the knee. HCT-3012 is derived from naproxen, and NiCox believes it could become the lead drug for osteoarthritis patients with hypertension. PRA International, a contract research organization, is managing the trial.

"We believe HCT 3012 has the potential to play a major role in the anti-inflammatory market," said Michele Garufi, chairman and CEO of NicOx. "Our view is that HCT 3012 could become the reference drug for millions of osteoarthritis patients with hypertension if this phase 3 program is successful in confirming its lack of interference with blood pressure. Initiation of this trial represents an important step toward our goal of building NicOx into a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company and we intend to retain future marketing rights to HCT-3012 in specialist areas, in line with this goal."

- read this AFX report for more information