Summit Therapeutics' shares jumped on Monday after the company saw positive interim results from clinical trials for its utrophin modulator ezutromid.
The AIM-traded drug discovery and development company hopes that the modulator can be an effective treatment for Deuchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), and the PhaseOut DMD trial's initial 24-week results demonstrated a "statistically significant decrease" in muscle inflammation measured by magnetic resonance sprectroscopy transverse relaxation time T2 (MRS-T2).

The treatment uses utrophin modulation to stabilise muscle fibre and aid in the regeneration of muscle fibre regeneration.

David Roblin, chief medical officer of Summit Therapeutics, said: "This, combined with the evidence that ezutromid can modulate production of utrophin protein and significantly reduce muscle damage, is further evidence of the potential of ezutromid as a disease modifying approach for the treatment of all genetic forms of DMD."

PhaseOut DMD is a multi-centre trial of 40 patients aged between five and ten in the US and UK which lasts for 48 weeks, with final top-line data expected to be reported in the third quarter of 2018.

H Lee Sweeney, director of the Myology institute at the University of Florida and co-director of Imaging DMD, said: "The decrease in MRS-T2 seen in PhaseOut DMD is encouraging and suggests ezutromid is having a positive effect on muscle health. These data could be an early indication that these patients are experiencing a decrease in disease severity and highlight ezutromid's potential as a disease modifying treatment.2

DMD, which is a muscle wasting disease that lowers life expectancy to the late twenties, affects approximately 50,000 men and boys in the developed world and is caused by faults in the gene that decodes dystrophin, a protein essential for the function of all muscles.

As of 1416 GMT, Summit Therapeutics' shares were up 8.82% at 185.00p.

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