REG - Destiny Pharma PLC - Agreement with Sebela Pharmaceutical for NTCD-M3

Destiny PharmaAnnouncement

24/02/2023 13:45

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RNS Number : 0310R  Destiny Pharma PLC  24 February 2023

Destiny Pharma PLC

 

Exclusive collaboration and co-development agreement for NTCD-M3 with Sebela
Pharmaceuticals® worth up to $570m plus royalties

Partnership with Sebela will finance the future clinical development and
commercialization costs of NTCD-M3 in North America

Destiny Pharma retains majority rights for Europe and ROW

Key strategic target achieved for NTCD-M3

Brighton, United Kingdom - 24 February 2023 - Destiny Pharma plc (AIM: DEST),
a clinical stage innovative biotechnology company focused on the development
of novel medicines that can prevent life-threatening infections, is pleased to
announce that it has signed an exclusive collaboration and co-development
 agreement for the North American (U.S., Canada and Mexico) rights of
NTCD-M3, its lead asset for the prevention of Clostridioides difficile
infection (CDI) recurrence, with Sebela Pharmaceuticals®, a U.S.
pharmaceutical company with a market-leading position in gastroenterology.

Under the terms of the deal, it is anticipated that Sebela will lead and
finance the future clinical development and commercialisation activities of
NTCD-M3 in North America. The Company retains the majority of rights for
Europe and Rest of the World and Sebela has a minority interest in any income
generated in these non-North American territories based on the clinical
studies it is funding.

The agreement, which could be worth up to $570m to Destiny Pharma in
milestones alone, includes;

·    an initial upfront payment of $1m;

·    success-based development milestones of $19m;

·    sales revenues-based milestone payments up to $550m; and

·    tiered, double-digit royalties.

 

Destiny Pharma has the obligation to continue its current plan to complete the
ongoing manufacture of all clinical trial supplies needed to undertake the
required clinical studies. It is anticipated that Phase 3 studies will
commence in 2024.

About NTCD-M3

NTCD-M3 was originally in-licensed by Destiny Pharma in November 2020 and is a
naturally occurring non-toxigenic strain of C. difficile which lacks the genes
that can express C. difficile toxins. It is an oral formulation of NTCD-M3
spores and patients who have taken NTCD-M3 were found to be protected from
toxic strains of CDI. NTCD-M3 acts as a safe "ground cover" preventing toxic
strains of C. difficile proliferating in the colon after antibiotic treatment.
NTCD-M3 temporarily colonises the human gut without causing any symptoms and
the gut microbiome returns to normal a few weeks after treatment.

About C. difficile

C. difficile is one of the leading causes of hospital acquired infection in
the U.S. and poor treatments from antibiotics lead to cycles of repeated
recurrence in many patients. In the U.S., there are approximately 500,000
cases of CDI each year; 25% of these initial cases then recur and there are
approximately 29,000 deaths per year. Current CDI treatment options are
limited, with lower efficacy observed when patients are retreated with the
same antibiotic for recurrence of CDI.

About Sebela Pharmaceuticals®

Sebela Pharmaceuticals is a U.S. pharmaceutical company with a market leading
position in gastroenterology and a focus on innovation in women's health.
Braintree Laboratories, Inc., a part of Sebela Pharmaceuticals, has been the
market leader in colonoscopy screening for over 35 years, having invented,
developed and commercialised a broad portfolio of innovative prescription
colonoscopy preparations and multiple gastroenterology products. Braintree
also has multiple gastroenterology programs in late-stage clinical
development, including Tegoprazan, a novel potassium-competitive acid-blocker
(P-CAB), in phase 3 trials in the US for the treatment of erosive esophagitis
and non-erosive reflux disease. In addition, Sebela Women's Health has two
next generation intra-uterine devices (IUDs) for contraception in the final
stages of clinical development. Sebela Pharmaceuticals has offices/operations
in Roswell, GA; Braintree, MA; and Dublin, Ireland; has annual net sales of
approximately $200 million; and has grown to over 340 employees through
strategic acquisitions and organic growth. Please visit sebelapharma.com for
more information.

Commenting on the announcement, Neil Clark, Chief Executive Officer of Destiny
Pharma, said:

"We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with Sebela, a high
quality, GI specialist company which has the necessary clinical development
and commercialisation expertise to take NTCD-M3 through to launch. Such
partnering deals are in line with our stated strategy of finding pharma
partners to undertake the required Phase 3 clinical studies of our lead assets
thus reducing the funding requirements of the Company.

"This deal is not only great news for the many thousands of patients that
suffer from C. difficile infections each year but is also a tremendous
endorsement of Destiny Pharma's approach. In a little over two years since
acquisition, we have managed to re-activate NTCD-M3 as a very exciting and
valuable clinical candidate and find a commercialisation partner in Sebela
with the capabilities to implement and fund all further clinical development
costs as well as funding NTCD-M3's launch and commercialisation in the key
U.S. market. Destiny retains control over the rights for Europe and the Rest
of the World (excluding China region), which we believe, together with our
XF-73 programs, contain significant value potential."

Commenting on the announcement, Alan Cooke, President and Chief Executive
Officer of Sebela Pharmaceuticals said:

"We are delighted to partner with Destiny Pharma to advance NTCD-M3 to Phase 3
and plan for commercialization in the U.S. NTCD-M3 provides a unique and
differentiated approach to prevent the recurrence of C. difficile infection
and represents a significant addition to our valuable development pipeline."

 

Investor Meet Presentation

DESTINY PHARMA PLC is pleased to announce that Neil Clark and Shaun
Claydon will provide a live presentation via the Investor Meet Company
platform on 27th Feb 2023 at 10.00am GMT.

The presentation is open to all existing and potential shareholders.

Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and add to
meet DESTINY PHARMA PLC via:

https://www.investormeetcompany.com/destiny-pharma-plc/register-investor
(https://www.investormeetcompany.com/destiny-pharma-plc/register-investor)

Investors who already follow DESTINY PHARMA PLC on the Investor Meet Company
platform will automatically be invited.

 

For further information, please contact:

Destiny Pharma plc
Neil Clark, CEO

Shaun Claydon, CFO

+44 (0)1273 704 440

pressoffice@destinypharma.com (about%3Ablank)

Optimum Strategic Communications
Mary Clark / Nick Bastin / Jonathan Edwards / Eleanor Cooper

+44 (0) 7931 5000 66

DestinyPharma@optimumcomms.com (about%3Ablank)

finnCap Ltd (Nominated Advisor and Joint Broker)
Geoff Nash / George Dollemore, Corporate Finance

Alice Lane / Nigel Birks / Harriet Ward, ECM

+44 (0) 207 220 0500

Shore Capital (Joint Broker)

Daniel Bush / James Thomas / Lucy Bowden

+44 (0) 207 408 4090

MC Services AG
Anne Hennecke / Andreas Burckhardt

+49-211-529252-12

Stern IR - US

Janhavi Mohite

+1-212-362-1200

Janhavi.Mohite@sternir.com

The information communicated in this announcement contains inside information
for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No.
596/2014.

 

About Destiny Pharma

Destiny Pharma is a clinical stage, innovative biotechnology company focused
on the development of novel medicines that can prevent life-threatening
infections. Its pipeline has novel microbiome-based biotherapeutics and XF
drug clinical assets including NTCD-M3, a Phase 3 ready treatment for the
prevention of C. difficile infection (CDI) recurrence which is the leading
cause of hospital acquired infection in the US and also XF-73 nasal gel, which
has recently completed a positive Phase 2 clinical trial targeting the
prevention of post-surgical staphylococcal hospital infections including MRSA.
It is also co-developing SPOR-COV(TM), a novel, biotherapeutic product for the
prevention of COVID-19 and other viral respiratory infections and has earlier
grant funded XF drug research projects.

For further information on the company, please visit www.destinypharma.com
(about%3Ablank)

Forward looking statements

Certain information contained in this announcement, including any information
as to the Group's strategy, plans or future financial or operating
performance, constitutes "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking
statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology,
including the terms "believes", "estimates", "anticipates", "projects",
"expects", "intends", "aims", "plans", "predicts", "may", "will", "seeks"
"could" "targets" "assumes" "positioned" or "should" or, in each case, their
negative or other variations or comparable terminology, or by discussions of
strategy, plans, objectives, goals, future events or intentions. These
forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts.
They appear in a number of places throughout this announcement and include
statements regarding the intentions, beliefs or current expectations of the
Directors concerning, among other things, the Group's results of operations,
financial condition, prospects, growth, strategies and the industries in which
the Group operates. The directors of the company believe that the expectations
reflected in these statements are reasonable but may be affected by a number
of variables which could cause actual results or trends to differ materially.
Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of the particular
statement. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that
may or may not occur in the future or are beyond the Group's control.
Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Even if
the Group's actual results of operations, financial condition and the
development of the industries in which the Group operates are consistent with
the forward-looking statements contained in this document, those results or
developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent
periods.

 

 

 

 

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