Destiny Pharma plc
("Destiny Pharma" or "the Company")
Efficacy of XF-70 Demonstrated: A Potential New Agent for the Treatment of Fungal Skin Infections
Brighton, United Kingdom - 18 June 2024 - Destiny Pharma (AIM: DEST), a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialisation of novel medicines to prevent and cure life threatening infections, today announced new data on one of its XF Drug Platform compounds, XF-70, which has demonstrated potency in an in vivo model of ringworm, a common fungal skin infection, which affects up to one in four people worldwide.
Ringworm is caused by a class of fungi called dermatophytes and are the causative agents of topical fungal infections. XF-70 is a member of a novel class of antimicrobial drugs (the XF Drug Platform) that have been shown to have a rapid bactericidal activity even within biofilms, and is structurally related to the company's leading drug, XF-73 which is being developed for the prevention of post-surgical staphylococcal infections ( a clinical Phase 3 ready asset).
· When applied to the skin in the ringworm model XF-70 demonstrated a highly significant anti-fungal efficacy, (p = <0.0001) compared to untreated control.
· XF-70 recorded an anti-fungal efficacy of 94.9% at the highest concentration tested.
· Histopathological examination demonstrated fungi in the skin sections obtained from untreated skin, but not in skin sections obtained from any of the XF-70 treatment groups.
This data has been accepted as a presentation at the forthcoming Irish Fungal Society meeting at Queen's University Belfast 19-20 June 2024.
As reported by Future Market Insights in January 2023 "The global ringworm treatment market is expected to reach US$ 8.38 Billion in 2023 and is projected to exhibit a CAGR of 5.2% from 2023 to 2033. The high prevalence of skin diseases and the high incidence of ringworm are the major factors driving the global market for ringworm treatments". [1]
Destiny Pharma plans to extend its research into anti-fungal medicine development to identify additional market opportunities where there is significant unmet clinical need and resistance to existing drug products.
Chris Tovey, Chief Executive Officer of Destiny Pharma, said: "This XF-70 data presents an exciting opportunity for Destiny Pharma to address a growing patient need, while demonstrating the expanded utility of the XF Drug Platform to deliver novel antimicrobial drugs which can be used to treat both bacterial and fungal infections. The positive in vivo data and its acceptance at the Irish Fungal Society meeting is further validation of Destiny's XF Drug Platform and its pivotal role in the battle against antimicrobial resistance."
Dr Bill Love, Chief Scientific Officer of Destiny Pharma added: "We reported last year significant findings of anti-fungal activity of drugs from the XF Platform and we are encouraged that XF-70's in vitro potency has translated into an in vivo fungal infection. Fungal resistance to anti-fungal drugs is less well known than antibiotic resistance, however it is of global concern and the development of novel anti-fungal drugs is equally important in addressing the impact of antimicrobial resistance."
For further information, please contact:
Destiny Pharma plc
Chris Tovey, CEO
Shaun Claydon, CFO
+44 (0)1273 704 440
pressoffice@destinypharma.com
FTI Consulting
Ben Atwell / Simon Conway
+44 (0) 203 727 1000
destinypharma@fticonsulting.com
Shore Capital (Nominated Adviser and Broker)
Daniel Bush / James Thomas / Lucy Bowden
+44 (0) 207 408 4090
About Destiny Pharma
Destiny Pharma is an innovative, clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialisation of novel medicines that can prevent life-threatening infections. The Company's drug development pipeline includes two late-stage assets XF-73 Nasal gel, a proprietary drug targeting the prevention of post-surgical staphylococcal hospital infections including MRSA and NTCD-M3, a microbiome-based biotherapeutic for the prevention of C. difficile infection (CDI) recurrence which is the leading cause of hospital acquired infection in the US.
For further information on the company, please visit www.destinypharma.com.
Forward looking statements
Certain information contained in this announcement, including any information as to the company'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 company's results of operations, financial condition, prospects, growth, strategies and the industries in which the company 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 company's control. Forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Even if the company's actual results of operations, financial condition and the development of the industries in which the company 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.
[1] Future Markets Insights, 2023 https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/ringworm-treatment-market
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.