Summit Therapeutics plc Summit Highlighted Potential Of Smt-571 To Combat The Rising Global Health Threat Of Gonorrhoea At St...

 
TIDMSUMM 
 
   Summit Therapeutics plc 
 
   ('Summit' or the 'Company') 
 
   Summit Highlighted Potential of SMT-571 to Combat the Rising Global 
Health Threat of Gonorrhoea at STI & HIV World Congress 
 
   Oxford, UK, and Cambridge, MA, US, 17 July 2019 -- Summit Therapeutics 
plc (NASDAQ: SMMT, AIM: SUMM) today announced that it highlighted the 
potential of its preclinical new class antibiotic, SMT-571, to treat all 
gonorrhoea, including multi-drug and extensively-drug resistant strains, 
in a poster presentation at the STI & HIV World Congress in Vancouver, 
Canada. 
 
   "The problem of gonorrhoea resistance is very concerning, and if nothing 
is done, physicians could see more and more cases of untreatable disease, 
" said Dr David Roblin, President of R&D of Summit. "As shown by the 
preclinical data presented, our gonorrhoea-targeted new class antibiotic, 
SMT-571, has the potential to overcome known resistance mechanisms 
across global isolates, including multi- and extensively-drug resistant 
strains. Further, there is a clear need for new gonorrhoea treatment 
options that would allow ceftriaxone to be reserved for the multitude of 
other serious infections that rely on its potency." 
 
   Infections caused by the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae are a growing 
global healthcare problem, with an estimated 78 million new cases 
globally per year. Infection rates continue to rise sharply as 
highlighted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ('CDC'), 
which reported a 19% increase in US gonorrhoea cases in 2017, and Public 
Health England, which reported a 26% increase in the UK in 2018. Of 
great concern is the increase in resistance towards the current standard 
of care treatment for gonorrhoea, a combination of the broad-spectrum 
antibiotics, azithromycin and ceftriaxone. N. gonorrhoeae resistance 
rates to azithromycin are 4.4% and rising, and there is an emergence of 
resistance to ceftriaxone in these same strains, which are referred to 
as cases of 'super gonorrhoea.' 
 
   Summit's poster featured preclinical data showing SMT-571 to be highly 
potent against 262 clinical strains of N. gonorrhoeae. This 
comprehensive panel of gonorrhoea strains, obtained from 1991 to 2018, 
was selected to be geographically and genetically diverse and include 
strains that are multi- and extensively-drug resistant. SMT-571 had a 
minimum inhibitory concentration range of 0.064 mg/L to 0.125 mg/L 
against the strains, including those with reduced susceptibility to 
ceftriaxone. Significantly, SMT-571 did not show cross-resistance with 
any antibiotic currently or previously used to treat gonorrhoea 
infections. 
 
   A copy of the poster is available on the Company's website: 
https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=hOwNpcVnH5ygYcPnItIIj3teosjDaNu3IshgbQPXqvAjgI1b0GLRE8kvTumrR7L-4AKVAssBT22nbf_MLgKdjbs_Rglaa0doF0rBkCuQegs= 
www.summitplc.com. 
 
   About Gonorrhoea 
 
   It is estimated by the World Health Organization ('WHO') that there are 
approximately 78 million new cases of gonorrhoea globally per year. 
Neisseria gonorrhoeae has consistently developed resistance to each 
class of antibiotics recommended for treatment and there is now only one 
treatment recommended by the CDC and European evidence-based guidelines, 
a combination of two antibiotics. There are currently no other 
recommended antibiotics that can be effectively deployed to target the 
disease. The WHO ranks as "high" the priority of R&D investment into the 
search for antibiotics which are effective against N. gonorrhoeae and in 
August 2018, the CDC stated that in light of increased problems with 
resistance, additional treatment options were urgently required. 
 
   About SMT-571 
 
   SMT-571 is a small molecule, new class antibiotic in preclinical 
development for the treatment of gonorrhoea. SMT-571 is designed to be 
an oral treatment with potential activity across the three sites of 
gonorrhoea infection: urogenital, rectal and pharyngeal. Preclinical 
studies have shown SMT-571 to have potent activity across a wide range 
of N. gonorrhoeae strains, including multi-drug and extensively-drug 
resistant isolates. SMT-571 was identified using Summit's Discuva 
Platform, which can identify novel targets, elucidate mechanisms of 
action and optimise against bacterial resistance. 
 
   The development of SMT-571 is supported by the Cooperative Agreement 
Number IDSEP160030 from ASPR/BARDA and by an award from Wellcome Trust, 
as administered by CARB-X. The content of this announcement 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. 
 
   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 
infections caused by C. difficile, N. gonorrhoeae and Enterobacteriaceae 
and are using our proprietary Discuva Platform to expand our pipeline. 
For more information, visit www.summitplc.com and follow us on Twitter 
@summitplc. 
 
   Contacts 
 
 
 
 
Summit 
Glyn Edwards / Richard Pye (UK office)     Tel:                  44 (0)1235 443 951 
Michelle Avery (US office)                                          [phone] 
 
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nominated 
 Adviser)                                  Tel:                 [phone] 
Liam Murray / Tony Rawlinson 
 
N+1 Singer (Joint Broker)                  Tel:                 [phone] 
Aubrey Powell / Jen Boorer, Corporate 
 Finance 
 Tom Salvesen, Corporate Broking 
 
Bryan Garnier & Co Limited (Joint Broker)  Tel:                 [phone] 
Phil Walker / Dominic Wilson 
MSL Group (US)                             Tel:                     [phone] 
                                                         mailto:[e-mail] 
Jon Siegal                                                      [e-mail] 
                                                  --------------------------------- 
 
Consilium Strategic Communications (UK)    Tel:                 [phone] 
Mary-Jane Elliott / Sue Stuart / Sukaina          mailto:[e-mail] 
 Virji                                             [e-mail] 
                                                  --------------------------------- 
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 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 2019. 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

July 17, 2019 07:00 ET (11:00 GMT)

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