Summit Therapeutics PLC (LON:SUMM) shares jumped almost 7% higher on Tuesday after the biopharma firm said its Infectious Diseases Technology Platform has discovered a series of antibiotic compounds that kill gonorrhoea bacteria.
The AIM-listed company said that in early testing the new compounds had been shown to have high potency against strains of gonorrhoea with no development of resistance to date.
READ: Summit Therapeutics expands enrolment in Phase 2 PhaseOut DMD trial
The firm added that it intended to select a candidate from the programme for Investigational New Drug (IND) enabling studies in the second half of 2018.
Dr David Roblin, president of R&D at Summit, said: "Without truly novel mechanism antibacterial drugs we cannot address the issue of antimicrobial resistance. Nowhere is this need more obvious than in gonorrhoea, where increasing resistance and a lack of innovation means we are now nearing an era of untreatable disease."
"Tackling this disease therefore fits squarely within Summit's strategic vision: the development of new mechanism therapies designed to treat specific diseases. This approach aims to demonstrate clear advantages over existing standards of care combined with a compelling value proposition for patients, payors and healthcare providers", he added.
In afternoon trading, Summit Therapeutics' shares were 6.7% higher at 200p.