Summit Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ: SMMT) is another biopharma company paying the price on Wednesday. In this case, Summit failed to meet its primary or secondary endpoints for its PhaseOut DMD trial of ezutromid in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
Based on this outcome, the company is discontinuing its development of ezutromid and, as a result, will be implementing cost reduction measures.
The company is currently working with the clinical trial investigators in PhaseOut DMD to bring the trial and the associated extension phase to a conclusion. Summit plans to also explore ways that information gathered as part of PhaseOut DMD can be made available to support other research activities in DMD for the benefit of the DMD community.
Summit will now focus its operations on the development of its pipeline of new mechanism antibiotics. The firm’s lead product candidate, ridinilazole, is expected to enter Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of C. difficile infection in the first quarter of 2019.
Glyn Edwards, CEO of Summit, commented:
These data come as a great disappointment to us and to all those living with DMD. While we believe utrophin modulation could still have a place in the treatment of DMD, it is clear that ezutromid is not providing a benefit for patients. We therefore feel that our resources are better focussed on the development of our promising pipeline of new mechanism antibiotics.
Shares of Summit were last seen down about 82% at $2.25, with a consensus analyst price target of $28.63 and a 52-week trading range of $2.20 to $16.86.
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