Summit Therapeutics plc Summit's Dds-04 Enterobacteriaceae Programme Demonstrates In Vivo Efficacy In Sepsis And Pneumonia

 
TIDMSUMM 
 
   Summit Therapeutics plc 
 
   ('Summit' or the 'Company') 
 
   Summit's DDS-04 Enterobacteriaceae Programme Demonstrates In Vivo 
Efficacy in Sepsis and Pneumonia 
 
 
   -- Proof of Concept Now Established in Animal Models Across Key 
      Enterobacteriaceae Indications 
 
   -- Pathogen-Targeted Approach Seeks to Preserve Patients' Microbiomes 
 
 
   Oxford, UK, and Cambridge, MA, US, 9 July 2019 -- Summit Therapeutics 
plc (NASDAQ: SMMT, AIM: SUMM) today announces that it has demonstrated 
the potential of its DDS-04 series of new class antibiotics as an 
Enterobacteriaceae-targeted treatment through in vivo proof of concept 
data in sepsis and pneumonia animal models. These data build on the 
previously published proof of concept preclinical study for DDS-04 in 
urinary tract infections. Enterobacteriaceae are a family of 
Gram-negative bacteria that cause severe and often deadly infections. 
 
   "There is a great need to advance truly differentiated treatments for 
Gram-negative bacteria, where there have been no new classes of 
antibiotics discovered since the last century. In particular, the rise 
of untreatable and hard to treat Enterobacteriaceae infections is a 
frightening prospect," said Dr David Roblin, President of R&D of Summit. 
"Our potential solution is DDS-04, a series of 
Enterobacteriaceae-targeted antibiotics for the treatment of resistant 
and non-resistant bacteria." 
 
   In the sepsis infection model, mice were infected with E. coli. 
Intravenous treatment with a representative compound of the DDS-04 
series cured the infection. For the pneumonia infection model, mice were 
infected with K. pneumoniae. Intravenous treatment with a representative 
compound of the DDS-04 series resulted in a significant reduction in 
bacterial burden in the lungs. Summit's preclinical data indicate that 
DDS-04 compounds have the potential to treat Enterobacteriaceae 
infections in all three key infection sites of urinary tract, 
bloodstream and lung.  However, it is the latter two where there is the 
greatest unmet patient need. Further details are expected to be 
published at an upcoming scientific meeting. 
 
   Dr Roblin added, "DDS-04 aligns with our strategy of targeting 
pathogenic bacteria and seeking to preserve patients' good bacteria 
known to play an important role in overall patient health. Importantly, 
pathogen-targeted antibiotics could be a new front-line treatment to 
support good stewardship with broad-spectrum antibiotics being 
reserved." 
 
   Today, Enterobacteriaceae infections are treated with a range of 
broad-spectrum antibiotics, where there is a high risk of treatment 
failure due to antibiotic resistance. Further, multi-drug resistance 
occurs in many of the severe hospital-acquired Enterobacteriaceae 
infections. Patients who receive multiple rounds of broad-spectrum 
antibiotics to treat these infections have increased risk for added 
complications, including C. difficile infection. A targeted, new class 
of antibiotics could have the benefit of not only being able to kill all 
strains of Enterobacteriaceae, regardless of resistance, but also could 
have the potential to preserve patients' microbiomes. 
 
   The DDS-04 series is undergoing lead optimisation. 
 
   About DDS-04 
 
   The DDS-04 series are targeted-spectrum compounds that act via a novel 
bacterial target, LolCDE. With its new mechanism of action, the DDS-04 
series was rapidly bactericidal and highly potent across globally 
diverse Enterobacteriaceae strains in research studies, which included 
multi-drug resistant isolates. Importantly, the DDS-04 series also 
showed low propensity for resistance development and did not show 
cross-resistance with existing classes of antibiotics, suggesting that 
DDS-04 compounds have the potential to overcome known resistance 
mechanisms. This profile makes the DDS-04 series attractive for further 
development for the treatment of Enterobacteriaceae infections. 
 
   About Enterobacteriaceae 
 
   Enterobacteriaceae are a family of Gram-negative bacteria responsible 
for severe and often deadly infections. They account for a significant 
fraction of cases across conditions, including bloodstream infections, 
hospital-acquired pneumonias and complicated urinary tract infections. 
Summit estimates there are more than 1 million infections in the US 
annually caused by Enterobacteriaceae across these three settings. 
Increasing resistance of Enterobacteriaceae has rendered many marketed 
antibiotics ineffective against these bacteria. Two of the most alarming 
antibiotic resistance trends are extended-spectrum beta-lactamase 
(ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae and carbapenem-resistant 
Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). ESBL is an enzyme that allows bacteria to 
become resistant to a wide variety of penicillin and cephalosporin 
antibiotics. CRE are resistant to nearly all existing antibiotics, 
including carbapenems which are considered the antibiotics of last 
resort. 
 
   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 ESKAPE pathogens 
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 09, 2019 07:00 ET (11:00 GMT)

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