REG - Destiny Pharma PLC - Publication of new data on NTCD-M3

Destiny PharmaAnnouncement

26/07/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 6716T  Destiny Pharma PLC  26 July 2022

 

Destiny Pharma plc

("Destiny Pharma" or "the Company")

 

Publication of new data on NTCD-M3 confirms potential as an effective
treatment for prevention of C. difficile infections

 

Brighton, United Kingdom - 26 July 2022 - Destiny Pharma plc (AIM: DEST), a
clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel
products to prevent life-threatening infections, today announces publication
of new data on NTCD-M3, its novel treatment for the prevention of C.
difficile infection (CDI) recurrence, in the peer reviewed journal  Public
Library of Science One (PLOS ONE):  Absence of toxin gene transfer from
(https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0270119)
Clostridioides difficile
(https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0270119)
strain 630Δerm to nontoxigenic
(https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0270119) C.
difficile
(https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0270119)
strain NTCD-M3r in filter mating experiments | PLOS ONE
(https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0270119) ).

 

CDI is the leading cause of hospital acquired infection in the US and current
treatments lead to significant recurrence. In the US, there are approximately
500,000 cases of CDI each year, many of these initial cases then recur leading
to 29,000 deaths per year.

 

The study, carried out by Professor Dale Gerding and his team at the VA Hines
laboratories (US), examined in vitro the potential for the transfer of the
gene responsible for toxin production from a toxigenic strain of C. difficile
to NTCD-M3. Such a transfer would be undesirable as it is the toxins produced
that are responsible for causing serious gut irritation and major
life-threatening symptoms of this common hospital gut infection.

 

The study demonstrated that attempted conjugations using a toxigenic C.
difficile strain (630∆erm) as a gene donor, failed to show toxin gene
transfer to NTCD-M3 but confirmed transfer to a different NTCD strain, namely
CD37, which had previously been reported (Brouwer MSM, Roberts AP, Hussain H,
Williams RJ, Allan E, Mullany P. Horizontal gene transfer converts
non-toxigenic Clostridium difficile strains into toxin producers. Nat
Commun. 2013;4: 2601 doi: 10.1038/ncomms3601
(https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms3601) . pmid:24131955).

 

Destiny Pharma is currently finalising preparations for the pivotal Phase 3
clinical trial of NTCD-M3 and seeking partners to help co-fund studies and
lead commercialisation of this exciting biotherapeutic product. NTCD-M3 has
previously reported very good Phase 2 clinical trial results.

 

Dr Bill Love, Chief Scientific Officer of Destiny Pharma, said: "This is an
important finding for NTCD-M3 as it demonstrates the inability for the
transfer of the genes which encode for toxin production into our novel
biotherapeutic product. This gives us additional confidence that such transfer
will not occur clinically and supports our view that NTCD-M3 will deliver an
effective and safe treatment to the many thousands of patients who experience
a C. difficile infection".

 

Professor Dale Gerding, Scientific Advisory Board Member of Destiny Pharma,
added: "The transfer of the pathogenicity locus (PaLoc) which contains the
toxin genes of toxigenic C difficile, has been found to occur in laboratory
experiments with certain strains of C. difficile. We were unable to
demonstrate this transfer to NTCD-M3 in multiple laboratory attempts,
suggesting that NTCD-M3 possesses mechanisms that resist such transfer. More
importantly, such transfers have never been observed in animal models or
humans treated with NTCD-M3, indicating that PaLoc transfer is highly unlikely
to occur in clinical practice".

 

Dale N. Gerding, MD MACP FIDSA FSHEA

Dr Dale Gerding is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious
Diseases at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, IL
(retired) and Research Physician at the Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Affairs
Hospital, Hines, IL where he maintains his active research laboratory. He is
board certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases and a Master of
the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Society for
Microbiology. Dr Gerding discovered and developed the NTCD-M3 preventive
treatment for C. difficile through its Phase 2 programme.

 

For further information please contact:

 

Destiny Pharma plc
Neil Clark, CEO

Shaun Claydon, CFO

+44 (0)1273 704 440
pressoffice@destinypharma.com
(https://www.destinypharma.com/2022/05/26/26-may-2022-destiny-pharma-plc-board-changes/blank)

 

Optimum Strategic Communications  (https://www.optimumcomms.com/)

Mary Clark / Manel Mateus / Eleanor Cooper

+44 (0) 203 922 0891
DestinyPharma@optimumcomms.com
(https://www.destinypharma.com/2022/05/26/26-may-2022-destiny-pharma-plc-board-changes/blank)

 

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

Alice Lane / Nigel Birks / Harriet Ward, ECM

+44 (0) 207 220 0500

 

MC Services AG
Anne Hennecke / Andreas Burckhardt

+49-211-529252-12

 

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 2b 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
(https://www.destinypharma.com)

 

Forward looking statements

 

Certain information contained in this announcement, including any information
as to the Group's strategy, plans or future financial or operating
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Directors concerning, among other things, the Group's results of operations,
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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
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