REDX.L Regulatory News (REDX)

AIM: REDX

REDX PHARMA PLC

("Redx" or "the Company" or "the Group")

Discovery of breakthrough MRSA compound

Third drug development candidate

Redx, the drug discovery and development company, is pleased to announce that it has reached pre-clinical development stage with a new anti-infective compound designed to tackle Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus ("MRSA"), the bacterium that causes potentially lethal infections in humans. The discovery is a significant milestone for Redx's commercial partnership with the NHS, working with The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals Trust ("the Trust"). This is the third Redx program to identify a drug development candidate since the beginning of the year.

The new compound is a member of the first new potential class of antibiotics to emerge in a generation and will be the first to progress through the development pathway established between Redx and the Trust under the terms of their partnership. This collaboration, signed in September 2013, was formed to find new drugs to combat the growing threat of drug-resistant bacteria, including MRSA. 

Redx's compound demonstrates excellent oral efficacy and has the potential to be easily administered both in the wider community and in a hospital setting. This is in contrast to current treatment for MRSA, which typically requires in-hospital treatment with antibiotics available only in an injectable form.

The next stage of development will see the compound undergo pre-clinical testing managed by Redx. Following this, the new candidate will go into clinical development at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, where it will be tested in humans at the Covance-Royal Liverpool University Hospital Clinical Research Unit. Once clinical proof of concept is reached, Redx will be responsible for the onward licensing of the candidate drug to a pharmaceutical partner for further development and commercialisation.

MRSA has been identified by the World Health Organisation as one of the six most dangerous, drug-resistant ESKAPE pathogens that are a leading cause of hospital infections and increasingly immune to the effects of antibiotics. According to recent findings from the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, a UK Government initiative chaired by Jim O'Neill, resistant infections will cost the world 10 million extra deaths a year and up to $100 trillion USD by 2050, if left unchecked. 

Dr Neil Murray, Redx Pharma Chief Executive, said:

"We're very excited by the possibilities presented by the discovery of this compound, which could have global implications in the fight against drug resistant infections. The lack of new drugs to target drug-resistant infections is a critical issue, as is finding more efficient ways to administer them to patients.

Our collaboration with the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals Trust has been very productive so far and demonstrates the benefits to be gained by the NHS and industry of working in partnership to tackle this very complex global threat. We look forward to a deepening relationship as our new compound makes the transition into human testing."

Aidan Kehoe, Trust chief executive, said:

"This is a huge step forward in the fight against antibiotic resistant infections, in particular drug resistant MRSA, that has significant implications for how hospitals provide safer care for patients. Our work with Redx highlights how the development of new compounds such as this can be made faster and significantly cheaper, whilst providing our patients with access to the very latest drugs and treatments.

This is also excellent news for the city of Liverpool and our future plans towards making Liverpool a hub for world class research that will help us improve healthcare for patients in Liverpool and beyond."

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About Redx Pharma Plc

Redx is focused on the development of proprietary, small molecule therapeutics to address areas of high, unmet medical need, principally in cancer, infection and immunology. The company typically improves the characteristics of existing drug classes to create highly differentiated, novel, best-in-class drugs and has already established a portfolio of 13 proprietary, (patent-protected) drug programs. Five programs have now achieved pre-clinical proof of concept, with relevance for respective therapies to treat MRSA, bone tumours, skin, brain, blood, breast, head and neck, and pancreatic cancers. 

About the NHS Trust

The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust is one of the largest and busiest hospital trusts in the North of England, with an annual budget exceeding £400 million. It delivers services across two sites and three hospitals, the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital and Liverpool University Dental Hospital, and employs more than 5,500 people. The Royal has around 170 researchers currently working on over 450 studies. Each year the Trust sees more than half a million people in its outpatient department and deals with around 150,000 emergency patients and day case admissions. It is one of the top teaching trusts in the UK with well-established links to the University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University and international institutions. In 2013 work began on a state of the art Royal Liverpool University Hospital due to open in 2017 as part of a £429million project that following the new hospital will see the creation of the Liverpool Health Campus with 100,000 square metres of space devoted to life sciences. This will provide development space for companies involved in research, pharmaceutical and biomedical industries putting Liverpool on the world stage for life sciences. To find out more about the Trust, visit www.rlbuht.nhs.uk.