ABINGDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwire - Jun 12, 2012) -

 Summit Corporation plc ('Summit' or 'the Company') 

SUMMIT ACHIEVES SMT C1100 PHASE 1 DOSING MILESTONE THAT TRIGGERS MILESTONE PAYMENT

 * Trial moves to Multiple Dose stage * Summit to Participate in Upcoming Industry Events 

Summit (AIM: SUMM), a UK drug discovery company, today announced that it has successfully passed a milestone in the Phase 1 trial of SMT C1100 for the treatment of the fatal genetic disease Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy ('DMD'), which triggered the final payment from a $1.5 million funding agreement with US-based DMD organisations.

SMT C1100, an oral small molecule compound, is a potential disease-modifying drug that works by increasing, or upregulating, the amount of a naturally occurring protein called utrophin. The Phase 1 dose-escalation study in healthy volunteers was initiated in May 2012 and will now progress to the stage where participants receive multiple doses. Results from the trial are expected by the end of this year.

The Phase 1 trial is being supported by a group of US-based DMD organisations: the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Charley's Fund, Cure Duchenne, the Foundation to Eradicate Duchenne, Nash Avery Foundation and Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy.

"We are grateful for the continuing support from the DMD organisations as we make significant progress in the Phase 1 trial of SMT C1100," said Glyn Edwards, Chief Executive Officer of Summit. "The funding will enable completion of the Phase 1 trial this year, after which we will seek an appropriate partner to advance SMT C1100 through proof-of-concept studies to ultimately bring this potential breakthrough therapy to patients with DMD."

The Company will be available for partnering discussions at the BIO International Convention June 18-21, 2012, in Boston, MA. In addition, Summit will present at the Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy Annual Connect Conference June 28-July 1, 2012, in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

SMT C1100 is designed to upregulate and maintain the production of utrophin. Utrophin is a protein that is highly expressed in regenerating muscle, but decreases as the muscle fibre matures and is eventually replaced by dystrophin, a protein that maintains the integrity and healthy function of muscles. Patients with DMD are unable to make dystrophin, resulting in muscle fibre degeneration. However, if utrophin is continually expressed in the mature muscle fibre, it can replace the function of dystrophin and thereby overcome the deficit in patients with DMD.

This approach is expected to be a universal treatment for all DMD patients regardless of whether the disease was caused by an inherited or spontaneous genetic mutation. Summit has demonstrated in non-clinical efficacy studies that SMT C1100 is capable of increasing utrophin to restore and maintain the healthy function of muscles.

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 For more information, please contact: Summit Glyn Edwards / Richard Pye Tel: +44 (0)1235 443 939 Singer Capital Markets (Nominated Adviser and Joint broker) Shaun Dobson / Claes Spång Tel: +44 (0)203 205 7500 Hybridan LLP (Joint broker) Claire Louise Noyce / Deepak Reddy Tel: +44 (0)207 947 4350 Peckwater PR (Financial public relations, UK) Tel: +44 (0)7879 458 364 Tarquin Edwards tarquin.edwards@peckwaterpr.co.uk MacDougall Biomedical Communications (U.S. media contact) Tel: +1 781-235-3060 Michelle Avery 

Notes to Editors

About DMD

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a fatal genetic neuromuscular disorder that affects 1 in 3,500 boys with an estimated patient population of 50,000 in the developed world. The disease is caused by defects in the gene required to make dystrophin, a protein, which maintains the integrity and healthy function of muscles. One in three new cases are due to a spontaneous mutation where there is no familial history of the disease. The progressive muscle wasting begins in early childhood and typically leads to death in the twenties due to cardiac and respiratory failure. Currently there is no cure for the disease.

About Utrophin Upregulation

Utrophin is a naturally occurring protein that has a similar function to dystrophin. Utrophin is produced during foetal muscle development but is switched off in mature muscle fibres. If its production could be switched back on, utrophin could act as a substitute for the missing dystrophin to maintain the healthy function of muscles. One method of turning utrophin production back on is through pharmacological means. Utrophin upregulation will be beneficial to all DMD patients regardless of their specific genetic mutation and is also expected to be complimentary to other therapeutic approaches in development.

About SMT C1100

Discovered and developed by scientists at Summit, SMT C1100 has demonstrated its potential as a disease-modifying drug in non-clinical efficacy studies. SMT C1100 disengages normal utrophin control such that utrophin RNA and protein is made continually in muscle. It has received orphan drug designation in the US and Europe.

About MDA Venture Philanthropy (MVP)

MVP is the Muscular Dystrophy Association's drug development program, which operates within MDA's translational research program. MVP is exclusively focused on funding the discovery and clinical application of treatments and cures for neuromuscular diseases. For more information, visit mda.org and follow MDA on Facebook (facebook.com/MDANational) and Twitter (@MDAnews).

About Charley's Fund, Cure Duchenne, Foundation to Eradicate Duchenne, and Nash Avery Foundation

Charley's Fund ([ www.charleysfund.org ]), Cure Duchenne ([ www.cureduchenne.org ]), Foundation to Eradicate Duchenne ([ www.duchennemd.org ]), and Nash Avery Foundation ([ www.nashaveryfoundation.org ]) are independent organisations devoted to developing treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. These groups, founded by parents of children with Duchenne, support the most promising research.

About Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy

Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) is a national not-for-profit organization founded in 1994 by parents of children with Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy. Our mission is to end Duchenne. We accelerate research, raise our voices in Washington, demand optimal care for all young men, and educate the global community. PPMD is headquartered in Middletown, Ohio with offices in Fort Lee, New Jersey. For more information, visit [ www.ParentProjectMD.org ].

About Summit

Summit is an Oxford, UK based drug discovery Company with an innovative Seglin™ technology platform for the discovery of new medicines and a portfolio of drug programme assets. Summit's programme portfolio consists of a number of drug programmes targeting high-value areas of unmet medical need including Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and C. difficile infection. Summit is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and trades under the ticker symbol SUMM. Further information is available at [ www.summitplc.com ].

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Source: Summit Corporation PLC via Thomson Reuters ONE [HUG#1618978]