Date: 2013-11-25
Type of information: R&D agreement
Compound: early-stage utrophin modulators
Company: Summit (UK) Oxford University (UK)
Therapeutic area: Genetic diseases - Neuromuscular diseases - Rare diseases
Type agreement: R&D
licensing
Action mechanism:
Disease: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Details: * On November 25, 2013, Summit, a UK drug discovery and development company advancing therapies for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (‘DMD’) and C. difficile infection, has announced the formation of a strategic alliance with the University of Oxford that will strengthen its utrophin modulator programme for the treatment of the fatal muscle wasting disease, DMD.
Summit will acquire exclusive commercial rights to a pipeline of novel, early-stage utrophin modulators and core biological screening technology, and an exclusive option to intellectual property that is related to the utrophin field generated during the alliance. These assets have been developed at the University of Oxford by research teams led by Professor Kay Davies, Professor Stephen Davies, the Waynflete Professor of Chemistry and Dr Angela Russell, an expert in medicinal chemistry and pharmacology. As part of the collaboration, Summit will sponsor a drug discovery programme in the University research laboratories to identify and develop additional utrophin modulator drugs. Professor Stephen Davies will also re-join the Summit Board of Directors as a Non-Executive Director.
Financial terms: Under the terms of the deal, Summit will issue 35,408,845 new ordinary shares, credited as fully paid and to be issued at 9.38 pence per share, for the acquisition of MuOx Limited (‘MuOx’). MuOx is a University of Oxford spin-out company founded by Professors Stephen Davies and Kay Davies that holds the exclusive rights to the series of utrophin modulators and core screening technology described above. The significant shareholders of MuOx are the University of Oxford, Professor Kay Davies, Professor Stephen Davies and Dr Angela Russell. These shares represent 7.9% of Summit’s current issued share capital and have been issued subject to a two-year lock-in period. The deal has been brokered by the University of Oxford’s technology commercialisation company, Isis Innovation Limited (‘Isis’). Isis has been issued with warrants to subscribe at 1 penny per share for up to a further 7,081,771 new ordinary shares subject to the research collaboration achieving certain key preclinical and clinical development milestones
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