SMT 19969: C. difficile
In recent years there has been increasing publicity surrounding the rise of so called hospital superbugs. One of the most important of these, Clostridium difficile, is typically harmless but, under certain conditions, can cause a life-threatening infection of the intestine. In particular, C. difficile infection ('CDI') is associated with prior antibiotic use causing an imbalance in the normal bacterial population of the gut resulting in an overgrowth of C. difficile.
C. difficile is a life-threatening bacterium for which the only current therapy options are broad spectrum antibiotics that are associated with high rates of recurrent C. difficile infection. In 2009 in the UK, CDI was responsible for approximately five times more deaths than MRSA while the combined annual cost of care in Europe and North America is estimated at $7.0 billion.
Currently there are limited therapy options and many common antibiotic treatments actually induce C. difficile infection.
Summit’s C. difficile Programme
Summit is developing a new class of antibiotics targeting C. difficile infection ('CDI') and has identified a novel class of small molecules that have an attractive activity profile,including our preclinical development candidate SMT 19969.
Non-clinical efficacy studies show that SMT 19969 is targeted exclusively to the site of infection in the GI tract and has potent activity against all known clinical isolates of C. difficile, including the endemic hyper-virulent strains. Compared with antibiotics currently on the market or in development, SMT 19969 has unprecedented selectivity for C. difficile bacteria which leaves the healthy gut bacteria unharmed. It is this narrow spectrum of activity, and resultant lack of disruption to healthy gut bacteria, that is important in naturally preventing the recurrence of CDI and improving the prognosis for patients.
Additionally, unlike other CDI drugs, studies to date show C. difficile has not developed any resistance to SMT 19969. The preclinical drug candidate also has an excellent safety profile following the assessment in a series of in vivo and in vitro toxicology studies.
SMT 19969 has been selected from a series of compounds discovered by scientists at Summit. SMT 19969 will now advance through formal preclinical development studies, the successful completion of which will enable it to enter human clinical trials.
Summit’s C. difficile programme is being supported by a prestigious grant from the Wellcome Trust that will fund the programme through to the start of human clinical trials.
