Summit Highlights Importance of Innovation in Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance During Antibiotics Awareness Week
November 12 2018 - 1:00AM
Summit Therapeutics plc (‘Summit’ or the
’Company’)
Summit Highlights Importance of Innovation in Fight
Against Antibiotic Resistance During Antibiotics Awareness
Week
- Preclinical Data on New Mechanism Antibiotic SMT-571
for the Treatment of Gonorrhoea are the Focus of an Oral
Presentation at the SCI/RSC Symposium on Antimicrobial Drug
Discovery
Oxford, UK, and Cambridge, MA, US, 12
November 2018 – Summit Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ: SMMT,
AIM: SUMM), a leader in new mechanism antibiotic innovation, marks
the start of Antibiotics Awareness Week today by highlighting the
importance of innovation in the discovery and development of new
antibiotics.
“As bacteria render existing classes of
antibiotics less and less effective, infectious diseases are an
ever-increasing threat to human life. To counter this threat,
Summit Therapeutics is one of the few companies developing
genuinely innovative, new mechanism antibiotics,” said Dr
David Roblin, President of R&D of Summit. “We believe
our Discuva Platform can support the discovery of multiple new
mechanism antibiotics against the most serious bacterial threats.
Through our research, we have already found several new
vulnerabilities in a range of bacteria, providing us with potential
new antibiotic targets to which bacteria have not been previously
exposed. Our goal is to use this information to continually develop
new mechanism antibiotics to become new standards of care.”
Within Summit’s current pipeline of new
mechanism antibiotics is SMT-571, which is the focus of an oral
presentation at the 2nd SCI/RSC Symposium on Antimicrobial Drug
Discovery taking place 12-13 November in London, UK. SMT-571 is a
selective antibiotic being developed specifically for the treatment
of gonorrhoea. Current treatment guidelines for gonorrhoea
recommend combination therapy of two broad-spectrum antibiotics,
ceftriaxone and azithromycin. Resistance to azithromycin and
reduced susceptibility to ceftriaxone are becoming global issues in
the treatment of gonorrhoea and there are no approved gonorrhoea
treatments to replace these antibiotics. In addition, ceftriaxone’s
over-use for gonorrhoea could create further health burdens by
promoting resistance of other life-threatening bacteria, for which
ceftriaxone is currently an antibiotic of choice, such as in the
treatment of meningitis.
If approved, Summit believes SMT-571 has the
potential to be used as a front-line treatment, which could help to
promote antibiotic stewardship by allowing broad-spectrum
antibiotics to be reserved for more appropriate infections. Data
being presented at the SCI/RSC Symposium highlight SMT-571’s new
mechanism of action, which has resulted in potency against multiple
different clinical gonorrhoea isolates in preclinical studies,
including multi-drug resistant strains and those showing reduced
susceptibility to ceftriaxone. In addition, SMT-571 appears to have
characteristics which are suitable for oral administration and
co-administration with antibiotics for other sexually transmitted
diseases. The development of SMT-571 is supported, in part, by an
award from CARB-X through the end of a Phase 1 clinical trial.
Added Dr Roblin, “By targeting
specific infections or pathogens, we believe we can develop the
optimal drug for the patient and healthcare provider and improve
clinical outcomes. This antibiotic stewardship approach promotes
the right drug for the right pathogen upfront and preserves
broad-spectrum antibiotics for severe, systemic infections.”
Other new mechanism antibiotic programmes in
Summit’s pipeline include ridinilazole, a Phase 3-ready precision
antibiotic for C. difficile infection, and a discovery-stage ESKAPE
program. The bacteria addressed by Summit’s programmes are all on
priority lists from the World Health Organization (‘WHO’) and the
US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (‘CDC’) because of
the urgent need for new antibiotics against them.
Antibiotics Awareness Week is a global event
recognised worldwide by the WHO, in the US by the CDC, in Europe by
the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, in Canada
by the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases and by
Australia by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality Health
Care. The initiative seeks to raise awareness about antibiotic
resistance and steps everyone can take to help avoid further spread
of antibiotic resistance.
About Summit Therapeutics
Summit Therapeutics is a leader in antibiotic innovation. Our new
mechanism antibiotics are designed to become the new standards of
care for the benefit of patients and create value for payors and
healthcare providers. We are currently developing new mechanism
antibiotics for C. difficile infection and gonorrhoea and are using
our proprietary Discuva Platform to expand our pipeline. For more
information, visit www.summitplc.com and follow us on Twitter
@summitplc.
Research reported in this press release is
supported by the Cooperative Agreement Number IDSEP160030 from
ASPR/BARDA and by an award from Wellcome Trust, as administrated by
CARB-X. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and
does not necessarily represent the official views of the Department
of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary
for Preparedness and Response, other funders, or CARB-X.
Contacts
Summit |
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Glyn Edwards / Richard Pye
(UK office) |
Tel: |
44 (0)1235 443 951 |
Erik Ostrowski / Michelle Avery (US
office) |
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+1 617 225 4455 |
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Cairn Financial Advisers
LLP (Nominated Adviser) |
Tel: |
+44 (0)20 7213 0880 |
Liam Murray / Tony Rawlinson |
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N+1 Singer (Joint
Broker) |
Tel: |
+44 (0)20 7496 3000 |
Aubrey Powell / Jen Boorer, Corporate
FinanceTom Salvesen, Corporate Broking |
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Panmure Gordon (Joint
Broker) |
Tel: |
+44 (0)20 7886 2500 |
Freddy Crossley, Corporate FinanceJames
Stearns, Corporate Broking |
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MSL Group (US) |
Tel: |
+1 781 684 6557 |
Jon Siegal |
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summit@mslgroup.com |
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Consilium Strategic
Communications (UK) |
Tel: |
+44 (0)20 3709 5700 |
Mary-Jane Elliott / Sue Stuart / Jessica
Hodgson / |
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summit@consilium-comms.com |
Lindsey Neville |
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Summit Forward-looking Statements
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Company’s future expectations, plans and prospects, including but
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CARB-X award, including whether the option segments will be
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Company’s product candidates, the potential commercialisation of
the Company’s product candidates, the sufficiency of the Company’s
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availability of data from clinical trials, the potential submission
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Company’s foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and
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"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 2018.
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
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subsequent date. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation
to update any forward-looking statements included in this press
release.
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