Summit Therapeutics swings to profit after revenue soars

The clinical-stage drug discovery and development company scored a profit before tax of £5.0m for the year ended 31 January, up from a loss of £24.0m the year before, as revenue leapt from £12.4m to £43.0m over the same period.

The AIM traded company attributed this major hike in revenue to the recognition of all remaining deferred revenue related to the Sarepta agreement following the group’s decision to discontinue development of ezutromid in June 2018, with £42.3m of its revenue stemming from the agreement.

Following this, the company's main development candidates include ridinilazole, for the treatment of C. difficile infection for which a phase III study began last month, with the development being supported by a contract with the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) potentially worth $62m.

Glyn Edwards, chief executive of Summit, said: "Ridinilazole has already shown clinical superiority against the standard of care in a Phase 2 clinical trial for C. difficile infection. If we were to achieve similar results in the ongoing Phase 3 clinical trials, we believe that would provide us with a compelling data package supporting the front-line use of ridinilazole in C. difficile infection. With approximately one third of patients with CDI currently experiencing unsatisfactory outcomes with the standard of care, ridinilazole has the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes."

Other development projects include SMT-571, which was nominated to progress into IND-enabling studies for the treatment of gonorrhoea in September after the company was awarded up to $4.5m of non-dilutive funding to support the candidate's preclinical and Phase 1 clinical development by CARB-X in July.

"The unmet need here is clear, as antimicrobial resistance is having a major impact on the ability of patients to achieve cures. Our programmes aim to provide a potential treatment option that is potent across non-resistant and resistant infections due to their new mechanisms of action. Together, our pipeline comprises new mechanism antibiotics that are being developed to be the most appropriate antibiotic for the patient in question, which would support good antibiotic stewardship and potentially reduce the threat of antimicrobial resistance," said Edwards.

Summit Therapeutics' shares were up 2.69% at 26.70p at 1239 GMT.