Summit Corporation plc - Enters into a co-development agreement with the Lilly TB drug discovery initiative

07 Oct 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'sleading 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.

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 plcSummit 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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