• Additional Group is Open to Patients Who Participated in Phase 1 Clinical Trials of Ezutromid
• Allows Summit to Gather Additional Safety and Efficacy Data from a Broader Patient Population

OXFORD, United Kingdom, March 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Summit Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:SMMT) (AIM:SUMM) announces it has opened enrolment in a planned additional group in its Phase 2 open label clinical trial called PhaseOut DMD. Enrolment is open to patients who participated in Phase 1 clinical trials of ezutromid but did not meet the entry criteria for the main PhaseOut DMD cohorts. Patients are eligible to participate regardless of their ambulatory status or age. Study assessments will include functional tests appropriate for the patient’s ambulatory status, cardiac MRI and lung function tests.

“We are extremely grateful to the patients who participated in our Phase 1 clinical trials and contributed to ezutromid’s clinical advancement, but were not initially eligible to participate in our Phase 2 clinical trial. Accordingly, we are pleased to open this additional group in our Phase 2 and provide these patients with the opportunity to receive ezutromid treatment,” commented Dr David Roblin, Chief Operating Officer and Medical Officer of Summit. “We expect the data collected from this additional group of patients will help expand our understanding of ezutromid’s safety and efficacy profile across a broader patient population.”

Dosing of patients in this additional group will run in parallel to the main part of the ongoing PhaseOut DMD clinical trial. PhaseOut is a multi-centre, 48-week open-label Phase 2 clinical trial that has enrolled 40 ambulant patients with DMD aged between their fifth and tenth birthday. Recently announced positive 24-week interim data from the clinical trial showed that compared to baseline, ezutromid significantly and meaningfully reduced muscle damage, as measured in muscle biopsies. Further, the interim data showed ezutromid significantly reduced muscle inflammation, as measured by MRS transverse relaxation time T2. Summit expects to report top-line data from the full 48-week trial of these 40 patients in the third quarter of 2018.

About Utrophin Modulation in DMD
DMD is a progressive muscle wasting disease that affects around 50,000 boys and young men in the developed world. The disease is caused by different genetic faults in the gene that encodes dystrophin, a protein that is essential for the healthy function of all muscles. There is currently no cure for DMD and life expectancy is into the late twenties. Utrophin protein is functionally and structurally similar to dystrophin. In preclinical studies, the continued expression of utrophin had a meaningful, positive effect on muscle performance. Summit believes that utrophin modulation has the potential to slow down or even stop the progression of DMD, regardless of the patient’s underlying dystrophin gene mutation. Summit also believes that utrophin modulation could be complementary to other therapeutic approaches for DMD. The Company’s lead utrophin modulator, ezutromid, is an orally administered, small molecule drug. DMD is an orphan disease, and the US Food and Drug Administration (‘FDA’) and the European Medicines Agency have granted orphan drug status to ezutromid. Orphan drugs receive a number of benefits including additional regulatory support and a period of market exclusivity following approval. In addition, ezutromid has been granted Fast Track designation and Rare Pediatric Disease designation by the FDA.

About Summit Therapeutics
Summit is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialisation of novel medicines for indications for which there are no existing or only inadequate therapies. Summit is conducting clinical programmes focused on the genetic disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy and the infectious disease C. difficile infection. Further information is available at www.summitplc.com and Summit can be followed on Twitter (@summitplc).

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Summit Forward-looking Statements

Any statements in this press release about the Company’s future expectations, plans and prospects, including but not limited to, statements about the clinical and preclinical development of the Company’s product candidates, the therapeutic potential of the Company’s product candidates, the potential commercialisation of the Company’s product candidates, the sufficiency of the Company’s cash resources, the timing of initiation, completion and availability of data from clinical trials, the potential submission of applications for marketing approvals and other statements containing the words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "target," "would," and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the uncertainties inherent in the initiation of future clinical trials, availability and timing of data from ongoing and future clinical trials and the results of such trials, whether preliminary results from a clinical trial will be predictive of the final results of that trial or whether results of early clinical trials or preclinical studies will be indicative of the results of later clinical trials, expectations for regulatory approvals, laws and regulations affecting government contracts, availability of funding sufficient for the Company’s foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of filings that the Company makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended 31 January 2017. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. In addition, any forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company’s views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any subsequent date. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements included in this press release.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014 (MAR).

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