Summit’s Infectious Diseases Technology Platform Yields Novel Antibiotics with Potential in Global Fight Against Gonorrhoea...
March 13 2018 - 6:00AM
Summit Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:SMMT) (AIM:SUMM) announces the
discovery of a series of antibiotic compounds that kill gonorrhoea
bacteria via new mechanisms of action. There is a pressing need for
novel antibiotics targeting gonorrhoea due to increasing antibiotic
resistance and a lack of new treatments. Gonorrhoea has been
identified as one of three urgent threats by the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (‘CDC’), and a high priority
pathogen by the World Health Organisation (‘WHO’).
“Without truly novel mechanism antibacterial
drugs we cannot address the issue of antimicrobial resistance.
Nowhere is this need more obvious than in gonorrhoea, where
increasing resistance and a lack of innovation means we are now
nearing an era of untreatable disease,” said Dr David
Roblin, President of R&D of Summit. “Tackling this
disease therefore fits squarely within Summit’s strategic vision:
the development of new mechanism therapies designed to treat
specific diseases. This approach aims to demonstrate clear
advantages over existing standards of care combined with a
compelling value proposition for patients, payors and healthcare
providers.”
In early testing, the new series of antibiotic
compounds has been shown to have high potency against strains of
gonorrhoea with no development of resistance to date. The series of
antibiotic compounds was identified using Summit’s recently
acquired technology platform. Summit intends to select a candidate
from the gonorrhoea programme for entering into IND enabling
studies in the second half of 2018. The Company believes the
identified series of antibiotic compounds has the potential to
produce a new front-line therapy for gonorrhoea.
Dr Roblin added, “We believe
that these data demonstrate the power of our recently acquired
technology platform to design and generate a pipeline of new
mechanism antibiotics. This combines perfectly with our development
capabilities and expertise already built in advancing ridinilazole,
our late-stage precision antibiotic for C. difficile
infection.”
About GonorrhoeaIt is estimated
by the WHO that there are approximately 106 million new cases of
gonorrhoea globally per year. The US CDC reported in 2013 that 30%
of new cases are resistant to at least one of the antibiotics
currently used to treat gonorrhoea. Further the organism
responsible for this infectious disease, Neisseria gonorrhoea, has
consistently developed resistance to each class of antibiotics
recommended for treatment. In 2006, the CDC recommended five
treatment options. There is now only one treatment recommended by
the CDC, a combination of two antibiotics. There are
currently no other approved antibiotics that can be
effectively deployed to target the disease.
About Summit’s Technology
PlatformThe Summit infectious diseases technology platform
combines transposon technology and bioinformatics to create and
screen compounds against proprietary pathogen libraries. It can be
used to identify new bacterial targets, elucidate mechanisms of
action and help generate potential antibiotic candidates that are
less susceptible to resistance development. The platform was
obtained as part of the acquisition of Discuva Limited in December
2017.
About Summit Therapeutics
Summit is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery,
development and commercialisation of novel medicines for
indications in rare and infectious diseases for which there are no
existing or only inadequate therapies. Summit is conducting
clinical programmes focused on the genetic disease Duchenne
muscular dystrophy and the infectious disease C. difficile
infection. Further information is available at www.summitplc.com
and Summit can be followed on Twitter (@summitplc).
Contacts
Summit |
|
|
Glyn
Edwards / Richard Pye (UK office) |
Tel: |
44
(0)1235 443 951 |
Erik
Ostrowski / Michelle Avery (US office) |
|
+1
617 225 4455 |
|
|
|
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nominated
Adviser) |
Tel: |
+44
(0)20 7213 0880 |
Liam
Murray / Tony Rawlinson |
|
|
|
|
|
N+1 Singer (Joint Broker) |
Tel: |
+44
(0)20 7496 3000 |
Aubrey Powell / Jen Boorer |
|
|
|
|
|
Panmure Gordon (Joint Broker) |
Tel: |
+44
(0)20 7886 2500 |
Freddy Crossley, Corporate Finance |
|
|
Tom
Salvesen, Corporate Broking |
|
|
|
|
|
MacDougall Biomedical Communications (US) |
Tel: |
+1
781 235 3060 |
Karen
Sharma |
|
ksharma@macbiocom.com |
|
|
|
Consilium Strategic Communications (UK) |
Tel: |
+44
(0)20 3709 5700 |
Mary-Jane Elliott / Jessica Hodgson / |
|
summit@consilium-comms.com |
Philippa Gardner |
|
|
Summit Forward-looking Statements
Any statements in this press release about the
Company’s future expectations, plans and prospects, including but
not limited to, statements about the clinical and preclinical
development of the Company’s product candidates, the therapeutic
potential of the Company’s product candidates, the potential
commercialisation of the Company’s product candidates, the
sufficiency of the Company’s cash resources, the timing of
initiation, completion and availability of data from clinical
trials, the potential submission of applications for marketing
approvals and other statements containing the words "anticipate,"
"believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend,"
"may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should,"
"target," "would," and similar expressions, constitute
forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ
materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements
as a result of various important factors, including: the
uncertainties inherent in the initiation of future clinical trials,
availability and timing of data from ongoing and future clinical
trials and the results of such trials, whether preliminary results
from a clinical trial will be predictive of the final results of
that trial or whether results of early clinical trials or
preclinical studies will be indicative of the results of later
clinical trials, expectations for regulatory approvals, laws and
regulations affecting government contracts, availability of funding
sufficient for the Company’s foreseeable and unforeseeable
operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements and other
factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of filings that the
Company makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal
year ended 31 January 2017. Accordingly, readers should not place
undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. In
addition, any forward-looking statements included in this press
release represent the Company’s views only as of the date of this
release and should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s
views as of any subsequent date. The Company specifically disclaims
any obligation to update any forward-looking statements included in
this press release.
This announcement contains inside information
for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014 (MAR).
-END-
Summit Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SMMT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Summit Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SMMT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024