TIDMSUMM
Summit Corporation plc
('Summit' or 'the Company')
SUMMIT TO PRESENT AT INTERNATIONAL MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY CONFERENCE
* Annual Connect Meeting Organised by Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy
Oxford, UK, 29 June 2012 - Summit (AIM: SUMM), a UK drug discovery company, will
today be presenting its SMT C1100 programme for the treatment of the fatal
genetic disease Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy ('DMD'), at the annual Connect
Conference, 28 June-1 July in Fort Lauderdale, US. The conference is hosted by
the organisation Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy ('PPMD').
A copy of the presentation is available on request from investors@summitplc.com.
Summit will also participate alongside key clinical investigators and industry
representatives in a closed-session panel discussion on the design and
implementation of future patient clinical trials.
The Connect meeting has evolved into the largest, most comprehensive
international conference focused on DMD and brings together the DMD community
with attendees including leading physicians, researchers and families.
About SMT C1100
SMT C1100 is a potential disease-modifying small molecule drug that works by
increasing, or upregulating, the amount of a naturally occurring protein called
utrophin. Utrophin is a protein that is highly expressed in regenerating
muscle, but decreases as the muscle fibre matures and is eventually replaced by
dystrophin, a protein that maintains the integrity and healthy function of
muscles. Patients with DMD are unable to make dystrophin, resulting in muscle
fibre degeneration. However, if utrophin is continually expressed in the mature
muscle fibre, it can replace the function of dystrophin and thereby overcome the
deficit in patients with DMD.
SMT C1100 is currently in a Phase 1 dose-escalation study in healthy volunteers
with results from the trial expected by the end of this year. The trial is
supported by a $1.5 million agreement with a group of US-based DMD
organisations. Utrophin upregulation is expected to be a universal treatment
for all DMD patients regardless of whether the disease was caused by an
inherited or spontaneous genetic mutation. Summit has demonstrated in non-
clinical efficacy studies that SMT C1100 is capable of increasing utrophin to
restore and maintain the healthy function of muscles.
- END -
For more information, please contact:
Summit
Glyn Edwards / Richard Pye Tel: +44 (0)1235 443 939
Singer Capital Markets
(Nominated Adviser and Joint broker)
Shaun Dobson / Claes Spång Tel: +44 (0)203 205 7500
Hybridan LLP
(Joint broker)
Claire Louise Noyce / Deepak Reddy Tel: +44 (0)207 947 4350
Peckwater PR
(Financial public relations, UK) Tel: +44 (0)7879 458 364
Tarquin Edwards tarquin.edwards@peckwaterpr.co.uk
MacDougall Biomedical Communications
(U.S. media contact) Tel: +1 781-235-3060
Michelle Avery
Notes to Editors
About DMD
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a fatal genetic neuromuscular disorder that
affects 1 in 3,500 boys with an estimated patient population of 50,000 in the
developed world. The disease is caused by defects in the gene required to make
dystrophin, a protein, which maintains the integrity and healthy function of
muscles. One in three new cases are due to a spontaneous mutation where there
is no familial history of the disease. The progressive muscle wasting begins in
early childhood and typically leads to death in the twenties due to cardiac and
respiratory failure. Currently there is no cure for the disease.
About Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy
Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) is a national not-for-profit
organization founded in 1994 by parents of children with Duchenne and Becker
muscular dystrophy. Our mission is to end Duchenne. We accelerate research,
raise our voices in Washington, demand optimal care for all young men, and
educate the global community. PPMD is headquartered in Middletown, Ohio with
offices in Fort Lee, New Jersey. For more information, visit
www.ParentProjectMD.org.
About Summit
Summit is an Oxford, UK based drug discovery Company with an innovative
Seglin(TM) technology platform for the discovery of new medicines and a
portfolio of drug programme assets. Summit's programme portfolio consists of a
number of drug programmes targeting high-value areas of unmet medical need
including Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and C. difficile infection. Summit is
listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and trades under the
ticker symbol SUMM. Further information is available at www.summitplc.com.
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originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Summit Corporation PLC via Thomson Reuters ONE
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