Summit Therapeutics plc Summit Highlights Importance Of Innovation In Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance During Antibiotics ...
12 November 2018 - 11:00PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMSUMM
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 2(nd) 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
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, Corporate
Finance
Tom Salvesen, Corporate Broking
Panmure Gordon (Joint Broker) Tel: +44 (0)20 7886 2500
Freddy Crossley, Corporate Finance
James Stearns, Corporate Broking
MSL Group (US) Tel: +1 781 684 6557
mailto:summit@mslgroup.com
Jon Siegal summit@mslgroup.com
---------------------------------
Consilium Strategic Communications (UK) Tel: +44 (0)20 3709 5700
Mary-Jane Elliott / Sue Stuart / Jessica mailto:summit@consilium-comms.com
Hodgson / summit@consilium-comms.com
---------------------------------
Lindsey Neville
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 potential benefits of the CARB-X award, including
whether the option segments will be exercised, 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 and funding awards,
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 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 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.
-END-
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 12, 2018 07:00 ET (12:00 GMT)
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