Summit Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:SMMT) (AIM:SUMM), the drug
discovery and development company advancing therapies for Duchenne
muscular dystrophy (‘DMD’) and Clostridium difficile infection
(‘CDI’), today announces key appointments to strengthen its
research and development team as the Company progresses its lead
candidates towards late stage clinical trials and advances its
earlier stage development pipeline.
Dr David Roblin, who recently became Chief
Operating Officer and President of R&D, will expand his role to
become Chief Medical Officer as he assumes full operational
leadership for Summit’s R&D capability. He will replace Dr Ralf
Rosskamp, who has resigned. Summit has also appointed Anne
Heatherington, PhD, as Head of Clinical Development and
Quantitative Sciences and Dave Powell, PhD, as Head of Research.
“This strengthening of our research and
development team will help to ensure the organisation has the
leadership, depth of knowledge and expertise needed to support
ezutromid and ridinilazole as they enter crucial stages in their
clinical evaluation and support progression of our earlier stage
utrophin development pipeline,” commented
Glyn Edwards, Chief Executive Officer of Summit.
“David Roblin brings the experience gained through a successful 25
years in the biopharmaceutical industry, and we are delighted he is
adding to his existing roles. Anne Heatherington brings a wealth of
experience across all aspects of clinical development, while Dave
Powell’s skills in discovery research and leading collaborative
research programmes between industry and academia will support our
strategic alliance with the University of Oxford.
“Ralf Rosskamp has played an important role in
supporting the development of our DMD and CDI clinical programmes,
both of which have achieved significant clinical milestones during
his time with us. On behalf of Summit, I would like to thank him
for his dedication to this role, and I wish him every success in
his future career.”
Dr David Roblin added, “In the
coming 12 months, Summit has the potential to achieve proof of
concept with ezutromid in the treatment of DMD and plans to begin
Phase 3 trials for ridinilazole in CDI, each step potentially
bringing us closer to making a difference for patients and families
living with these serious diseases. We’re delighted to have further
strengthened the team as we approach these important inflection
points.”
Dr Heatherington joined Summit from Pfizer and
has already taken up her role in the Company’s office in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, US, while Dr Powell will join Summit in late June
from GlaxoSmithKline (‘GSK’) and will be based at the Company’s
headquarters in Oxfordshire, UK.
Dr David Roblin MD, FRCP, FFPM,
FMedSciDr David Roblin has had an extensive and highly
successful career in the life sciences industry. Dr Roblin held
senior leadership roles at Pfizer and Bayer where he was involved
in research, development and commercialisation. At Pfizer, he was
Head of Research, Site Director and CMO for Europe R&D and he
and his units were responsible for the development of several
important and successful medicines. At Bayer, he was Head of
Therapy Area for anti-infectives where he was involved in the
successful development of a number of antibiotics, including
Avelox™ and Cipro™. In 2014, Dr Roblin was appointed COO and
Director of Scientific Translation at the Francis Crick Institute
in London where he led on establishing the operations of a new
biomedical research institute at a new state-of-the-art research
facility. Before entering the pharmaceutical industry, Dr Roblin
practised medicine for five years. Dr Roblin has a degree in
biochemistry from University College London and later qualified in
medicine from St George's Hospital. He is a Fellow of the Royal
College of Physicians, a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical
Medicine and was recently elected to the Fellowship of the Academy
of Medical Sciences. He is an honorary Professor of Medicine at
Swansea University and Professor of Translational Medicine at St
George's. He is a Board Director of Destiny Pharma.
Anne Heatherington, PhDDr Anne
Heatherington joins Summit from Pfizer where she was Vice President
and Head of Quantitative Clinical Sciences in Cambridge, MA. Dr
Heatherington qualified in pharmacy from Queens University of
Belfast, spent a year in Queens Square, London as a
pre-registration pharmacist and then earned a PhD
(pharmacokinetics) from Manchester University, UK. Dr Heatherington
was awarded a Senior Fellow position, developing PK-PD
(pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic) models with collaborators
funded by the US National Institutes of Health in the Center for
Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle. In 1996, Dr
Heatherington joined Amgen and during her eight years there, she
supported multiple programmes including three international filings
and led a group focused on therapeutic proteins. In 2004, she
joined Clinical Pharmacology at Pfizer, where she assumed
responsibility for a range of therapeutic areas supporting all
phases of development. In 2008, Dr Heatherington was appointed Head
of Clinical R&D at Sandwich, UK, where she oversaw for Pfizer
the clinical development of a wide range of assets. In 2011, she
moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts with Pfizer where she led a group
of clinical pharmacologists and statisticians focussing on the
application of quantitative principles to early stage development.
Dr Heatherington currently serves on the Board of Directors for the
American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
(ASCPT).
Dave Powell, PhDDr Dave Powell
will join Summit from GSK where he is currently Director and Head
of the Crick-GSK Biomedical LinkLabs, based at GSK’s UK R&D hub
at Stevenage, UK, and The Francis Crick Institute in London. He was
awarded a BSc and MSc from the National University of Ireland
Galway, before completing a PhD in biochemistry at Cardiff
University. Starting at GSK in 1995, Dr Powell joined a team
working on Lead Optimisation, Structure Activity Relationships and
compound mechanism of action support. Moving to Philadelphia in
1997, he switched focus to study novel targets emerging from the
collaboration with Human Genome Sciences, and he successfully led
the team that identified and linked BACE with Alzheimer’s disease
in 1999. He then had successive management positions across
discovery biology at GSK’s R&S site in Harlow, UK, with a focus
on assay development, high throughput screening design and
implementation, and lead optimisation support. This included
multiyear involvement with GSK’s LpPLA2 programmes. He was
appointed Director in Molecular Discovery Research in 2010, with
subsequent department leadership positions at GSK’s site in
Stevenage, UK. Appointed to his most recent role in 2014, he has
been leading a highly embedded collaboration with the Crick
Institute, in addition to providing support to GSK’s ‘Discovery
Partnerships with Academia’ team which collaborates with academic
groups in downstream drug discovery.
About Summit Therapeutics
Summit is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery,
development and commercialisation of novel medicines for
indications for which there are no existing or only inadequate
therapies. Summit is conducting clinical programs 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).
For more information, please contact:
Summit Glyn Edwards / Richard Pye
(UK office)Erik Ostrowski / Michelle Avery (US office) |
Tel:
+44 (0)1235 443 951 +1 617 225 4455 |
|
|
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP(Nominated
Adviser)Liam Murray / Tony Rawlinson |
Tel: +44 (0)20 7213 0880 |
|
|
N+1 Singer (Broker)Aubrey Powell / Lauren
Kettle |
Tel: +44 (0)20 7496 3000 |
|
|
MacDougall Biomedical Communications(US media
contact)Karen Sharma |
Tel:
+1 781 235 3060ksharma@macbiocom.com |
|
|
Consilium
Strategic Communications(Financial public relations,
UK)Mary-Jane Elliott / Sue Stuart / Jessica Hodgson / Lindsey
Neville |
Tel: +44 (0)20 3709
5700 summit@consilium-comms.com |
Forward-looking StatementsAny
statements in this press release about Summit’s future
expectations, plans and prospects, including but not limited to,
statements about the clinical and preclinical development of
Summit’s product candidates, the therapeutic potential of Summit’s
product candidates, and the timing of initiation, completion and
availability of data from clinical trials, 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
on-going 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, availability of funding sufficient for Summit’s
foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and capital
expenditure requirements and other factors discussed in the "Risk
Factors" section of filings that Summit makes with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, including Summit’s Annual Report on Form
20-F for the fiscal year ended January 31, 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 Summit’s views
only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon
as representing Summit’s views as of any subsequent date. Summit
specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking
statements included in this press release.
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