Summit Therapeutics plc Summit Discovers Multiple New Mechanism Antibiotics Against Novel Eskape Pathogen Targets
September 06 2018 - 7:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMSUMM
Summit Therapeutics plc
('Summit' or the 'Company')
Summit Discovers Multiple New Mechanism Antibiotics Against Novel ESKAPE
Pathogen Targets
-- Discovery Enabled by Discuva Platform and Proprietary Bacterial Libraries
Oxford, UK, and Cambridge, MA, US, 6 September 2018 -- Summit
Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ: SMMT, AIM: SUMM), a leader in new mechanism
antibiotic innovation, announced today the discovery of multiple new
mechanism antibiotics against novel ESKAPE pathogen targets. Commonly
referred to as superbugs, the ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium,
Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter spp.) collectively comprise the
leading cause of hospital-acquired infections globally. New classes of
antibiotics are urgently needed to address these pathogens that are
increasingly developing resistance to existing antibiotic drug classes.
"We believe we are building a very different antibiotics company that
focuses on bringing innovation to an area of high unmet need. With new
science, we believe the threat of ESKAPE pathogens and other serious
infectious diseases can potentially be solved," commented Mr Glyn
Edwards, Chief Executive Officer of Summit. "At the core of our
innovation is our powerful Discuva Platform. The platform allows us to
uncover possible new ways to combat the potentially deadly ESKAPE
pathogens. We can then aim to exploit this knowledge through the
discovery and development of targeted new mechanism antibiotics."
Summit's Discuva Platform utilises proprietary libraries of mutant
bacteria to identify genes which are essential for bacteria to survive.
Summit's libraries provide coverage across the ESKAPE pathogens. Through
the Discuva Platform, Summit has identified essential ESKAPE pathogen
genes, which could represent novel drug targets against these pathogens.
Several of these targets are now the focus of Summit's drug development
programmes, with the platform having already discovered potential new
mechanism antibiotics against them.
"We believe the identification of novel targets gives us the potential
to develop the right drugs for the right bacteria, infection and
patient. That would enable us to ensure that our antibiotics truly meet
the needs of patients, their treating physicians and healthcare
providers and to promote antibiotic stewardship," added Dr David Roblin,
President of R&D of Summit. "We believe this approach will afford us the
opportunity to replace the current standards of care for these serious
infections caused by the ESKAPE pathogens and bring potentially
life-saving treatments to patients."
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.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of
Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014 (MAR).
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 / Jessica Hodgson / mailto:summit@consilium-comms.com
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
September 06, 2018 07:00 ET (11:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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