Summit Corporation PLC : New data presented on OGA inhibition at Alzheimer's Association International Conference

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

SUMMIT PRESENTS NEW DATA ON OGA INHIBITION AT ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

• Data provide evidence of mechanism of action for Seglin OGA inhibitors 

Oxford, UK, 17 July 2012 - Summit (AIM: SUMM), a UK drug discovery company, will today present positive preclinical data on its OGA (O-linked N-acetylglucosaminidase) inhibitor programme for the treatment of tauopathies at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2012 ('AAIC 2012') being held in Vancouver, Canada between 14-19 July 2012.

"One of the hallmarks of tauopathies, such as Alzheimer's disease, is the presence of neurofibrillary tangles caused by the aggregation of abnormal hyper-phosphorylated forms of a protein called tau," said Richard Storer, DPhil, Chief Scientific Officer of Summit.  "The data being presented at AAIC demonstrate that Summit's small molecule OGA inhibitors, developed using our Seglin(TM) technology platform, reduce the amount of tau phosphorylation both in vitro and in vivo and strongly support their further evaluation.  OGA inhibition represents a new and potentially disease-modifying paradigm for the treatment of this group of serious neurodegenerative disorders."

In the presentation titled "Modulating tau phosphorylation through inhibition of OGA: A new treatment paradigm for tauopathies", Summit reported data on its potent and highly selective small molecule inhibitors of the enzyme OGA.  In vitro and in vivo studies showed that OGA inhibition reduced tau protein phosphorylation.  In addition, the OGA inhibitors were able to penetrate the blood brain barrier in vivo.  Based on these positive results, the programme will advance to efficacy studies of these OGA inhibitors in in vivo disease models.

The presentation is available on request from investors@summitplc.com and shortly from the Company's website, www.summitplc.com.

About Tauopathies
The tauopathies are a group of neurodegenerative diseases which includes Alzheimer's disease and a number of rare disorders such as Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Frontotemporal Dementia.  
The tauopathies are characterised by the formation in the brain of neurofibrillary tangles ('NFTs') which contribute to the death of nerve cells in the brains of patients and arise due to the aggregation of abnormal hyper-phosphorylated tau protein.  OGA plays a role in the modulation of tau phosphorylation and its inhibition has the potential to prevent tau aggregation and thereby stop the NFTs from forming.

About AAIC^®
The Alzheimer's Association International Conference^® ('AAIC') is the world's largest conference of its kind, bringing together researchers from around the world to report and discuss ground-breaking research and information on the cause, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders.  As a part of the Alzheimer's Association's research program, AAIC serves as a catalyst for generating new knowledge about dementia and fostering a vital, collegial research community

About Summit
Summit is an Oxford, UK based drug discovery Company with a portfolio of drug programme assets and a drug discovery platform called Seglins(TM) technology.  Summit's programme portfolio consists of a number of drug programmes targeting high-value areas of unmet medical need including Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, C. difficile infection and a group of neurodegenerative diseases called tauopathies. 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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