Summit Corporation plc
("Summit plc" or "the Company")
SUMMIT PLC ENTERS INTO A CO-DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT WITH THE
LILLY TB DRUG DISCOVERY INITIATIVE FOR TUBERCULOSIS PROGRAMME
Oxford, UK, 7 October 2008 - Summit Corporation plc (AIM: SUMM), a
leading UK biotechnology company, announces today that it has entered
into a co-development agreement for its early stage tuberculosis
("TB") programme with the Lilly TB Drug Discovery Initiative, a
public-private partnership created by the pharmaceutical company Eli
Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) to discover and develop new early stage
TB drug candidates.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Lilly TB Drug Discovery
Initiative ("Initiative") will have an exclusive licence to the
compounds discovered by Summit in the developing world and will be
responsible for future research and development costs. Summit
retains all rights in the developed world to these compounds for the
treatment of TB and all other indications, and will have access to
any data generated during the development of the programme. These
data can be used by Summit as part of future sub-licensing
agreements. Summit will be a key member of a joint development team
and will therefore maintain close involvement in the programme's
future scientific development.
Steven Lee, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Summit commented: "The
signing of this agreement with the Lilly TB Drug Discovery Initiative
is an exciting development for our TB programme and Summit is pleased
to be working with some of the world's leading drug researchers in
the field of infectious diseases through this partnership. I believe
this agreement will give our novel class of compounds the best
opportunity of being developed into a new and urgently needed
medicine for the benefit of TB patients around the world.
"This agreement highlights the continued progress Summit is making
in fulfilling its strategy of signing early stage programme deals
that immediately remove costs from the business while retaining an
interest in their future success. Through our innovative technology
platforms in carbohydrate chemistry and zebrafish biology, Summit has
the assets to maintain the strength of our drug pipeline and I
anticipate the signing of further agreements in the coming months."
Background to the Lilly TB Drug Discovery Initiative and Summit's TB
Programme
TB remains a serious global health issue with over one third of the
World's population suspected to be infected with the disease, and is
one of the leading causes of death in the developing world. In
addition, TB has once again become a significant healthcare threat in
the developed world. It is over 30 years since the last new medicine
to treat TB was launched and there is an increasingly urgent need for
the development of new medicines. The Lilly TB Drug Discovery
Initiative has been created and funded by Lilly with the ambition of
developing new clinical candidates for TB medicines. The other
members of the Initiative include the Infectious Diseases Research
Institute (IDRI) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases (NIAID), part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Summit's TB programme is based on a novel class of compounds that has
shown excellent levels of in vitro cell-killing activity against
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes TB. The
compounds act via a mode of action distinct from all other TB
therapies. Significantly, the compounds are also active against both
multi-drug resistant bacterial strains and the dormant form of the
bacteria emphasising their potential ability to shorten treatment
regimes (a key issue with current therapies) and as a treatment for
latent TB infection.
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For more information, please contact:
Summit plc
Steven Lee, PhD, Chief Executive Officer
Richard Pye, PhD, Investor Relations
Tel: +44 (0)1235 443951; +44 (0)7825 313476
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Mark Swallow, PhD / David Dible / Emma Palmer Foster
Tel: +44 (0)207 638 9571
Panmure Gordon
Andrew Burnett / Rakesh Sharma (Corporate Finance)
Ashton Clanfield (Corporate Broking)
Tel: +44 (0)207 459 3600
About Summit plc
Summit plc is a leading UK biotechnology company with a broad
preclinical and clinical pipeline, two world-leading technology
platforms and an innovative business model that is expected to
generate sustainable value for investors.
Summit is developing multiple drug programmes that target unmet
medical needs from which it intends to generate value by
out-licensing attractive late preclinical or early clinical stage
programmes in return for upfront, milestone and royalty payments.
Summit uses its scientific expertise to target orphan diseases,
neuro-disorders and infectious diseases. Summit has signed a major
licensing agreement with BioMarin in Duchenne muscular dystrophy and
has co-development agreements with Evolva (infectious diseases),
Orient Pharma (sialorrhoea) and the Lilly TB Drug Discovery
Initiative (tuberculosis)
Underpinning Summit's drug pipeline are two innovative technology
platforms: carbohydrate chemistry and zebrafish biology. These
platforms support existing programmes and also will be the source of
future programmes to replenish Summit's drug pipeline. These
platform technologies also form the basis of the Company's profitable
service business.
The company listed on the alternative investment market (AIM) of the
London Stock Exchange in October 2004 - symbol: SUMM. Further
information about the company is available at www.summitplc.com.
About The Lilly TB Drug Discovery Initiative
The Lilly TB Drug Discovery Initiative is a not-for-profit
public-private partnership with a mission to accelerate early-stage
drug discovery by bringing together specialists from around the world
for the systematic exploration of vast, private molecular libraries
in search of new TB treatments. Headquartered in Seattle, The Lilly
TB Drug Discovery Initiative includes representatives of government
agencies, philanthropic organizations, pharmaceutical companies,
universities and other research institutions. Its most important
goal is filling the pipeline for future TB drugs.
About Lilly
Lilly, a leading innovation-driven corporation, is developing a
growing portfolio of first-in-class and best-in-class pharmaceutical
products by applying the latest research from its own worldwide
laboratories and from collaborations with eminent scientific
organizations. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind., Lilly provides
answers - through medicines and information - for some of the world's
most urgent medical needs. Additional information about Lilly is
available at www.lilly.com
For this Initiative, Lilly has opened access to its greatest assets,
a library of 500,000 compounds. The company also is lending its
immense drug discovery expertise and organizational savvy, and is
contributing the latest, most innovative technologies used in drug
discovery to be applied to the search for new drugs to fight TB. The
$15 million Lilly has given to support this historic undertaking is
part of Lilly's $135 million commitment to control
multidrug-resistant TB through The Lilly MDR-TB Partnership, which
mobilizes 18 partners on five continents to stop the spread of the
disease and save lives. Additional information can be found at
www.lillymdr-tb.com
About IDRI
IDRI is a Seattle-based not-for-profit organization committed to
applying innovative science to the research and development of
products to prevent, detect and treat infectious diseases of poverty.
By integrating capabilities, IDRI strives to create an efficient
pathway bringing scientific innovation from the lab to the people who
need it most. For more information, go to www.idri.org
About NIAID
NIAID conducts and supports research - at NIH, throughout the United
States, and worldwide - to study the causes of infectious and
immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing,
diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets
and other materials are available on the NIAID Web site at
www.niaid.nih.gov
NIH - The Nation's Medical Research Agency - includes 27 Institutes
and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and
Human Services. In fiscal year 2007, NIAID invested more than $47
million in almost 90 projects focused on TB drug development. NIAID
also offers a wide variety of fundamental research, preclinical, and
clinical development resources that can be leveraged to further
develop prioritized and validated molecular candidates and assist in
transitioning them into clinical testing. www.nih.gov
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