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Summit Therapeutics given lift by appearance at infectious diseases conference

Published: 13:42 09 Oct 2017 BST

Gut biome
The rival fidaxomicin treatment was associated with loss of alpha diversity during dosing

Shares in Summit Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ:SMMT, LON:SUMM) perked up in London trading after the company presented at ID Week 2017, the conference on infectious diseases.

The dual-listed company, which is advancing therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), presented further positive gut microbiome data of ridinilazole from its exploratory Phase 2 clinical trial.

The emphasis was on microbiome preservation during treatment with ridinilazole, a small molecule antibiotic that the Oxford-based company is developing for the treatment of CDI.

In comparison with fidaxomicin, an established treatment for CDI, both drugs reduced the abundance of bacteria from the C. difficile and a closely related family, but fidaxomicin also reduce the abundance of other bacterial families, including reductions to bacteria belonging to the Firmicutes phylum that are thought to have direct functional roles in protecting against CDI.

Another important measure of microbiome health is alpha-diversity, Summit noted. In this measure, ridinilazole treatment resulted in no loss in median alpha diversity, whereas fidaxomicin treatment was associated with loss of alpha diversity during dosing.

"The impressive level of microbiome detail afforded by our clinical analyses shows the low impact of ridinilazole treatment on the gut microbiomes of patients while they are being treated for CDI," said Dr David Roblin, chief medical and operating officer of Summit.

"We believe ridinilazole is a precision antibiotic that combines low impact on the gut microbiome with high potency in killing C. difficile and that, with this profile, and its consequent potential to reduce recurrent disease, it could become a future front-line treatment option in CDI."

Shares in Summit were up 5.7% at 200.8p in lunchtime trading in London.

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