Summit Therapeutics PLC (LON:SUMM) (NASDAQ:SMMT) saw its shares jump 4% after the drug developer said new preclinical data on ridinilazole, a novel and selective antibiotic for the treatment of clostridium difficile infection (CDI), had been presented at ASM Microbe 2017 in New Orleans.
The AIM and Nasdaq-listed firm said the results, presented in two poster presentations at the US conference over the first five days of June, showed that ridinilazole was very active against all CDI isolates with overall minimum inhibition concentrations distributed over a very narrow range.
READ: Summit Therapeutics strengthens R&D team
David Roblin, Summit’s president of research & development, said: "These positive preclinical data presented at ASM Microbe highlight the potency of ridinilazole against a wide range of CDI clinical isolates from patients with CDI.”
He added: "Combining potency and selectivity, ridinilazole has shown positive results in clinical trials that support its potential to treat patients with CDI and reduce the rate of recurrent disease.
“It is thought that the preservation and restoration of the patient microbiome is important in reducing recurrence and ridinilazole's narrow spectrum is designed to achieve this.
“We believe ridinilazole has the potential to be a novel, and urgently needed, front-line treatment option for this serious disease.”
In early afternoon trading Summit shares were 4.1%, or 7.5p higher at 182.5p.