July 2010: Destiny Pharma Abstracts Accepted for ICAAC 2010

Destiny Pharma will be presenting for the first time Phase I clinical data at the prestigious 50th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) meeting to be held in Boston in September 2010. This is an exciting development in the history of Destiny, as this is the first release of data from a Phase I trial on the safety and use of XF-73 in the nasal decolonisation of Staphylococcus aureus in human volunteers.

June 2010: Publication of Data on the Antibacterial Spectrum of Destiny Pharma's Lead Compound XF-73 in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents

A further publication in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents entitled "In vitro activity of XF-73, a novel antibacterial agent, against antibiotic-sensitive and -resistant Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial species" has just been published which reports on the antibacterial properties of XF-73, the lead drug in the Destiny Pharma portfolio of antimicrobial compounds. The publication describes the broad spectrum antibacterial activity of XF-73, where all of the Gram-positive bacteria tested were found to be susceptible to XF-73. Furthermore, the presence of all known existing antibiotic resistance mechanisms in the test bacteria was found not to have any effect on the antibacterial activity of XF-73. These results confirm the findings reported in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy in October 2009 on the novel mechanism of action of XF-73.

June 2010: FDA to announce incentives to encourage new anti-microbial drug development

Calls for new anti-microbial drugs to combat existing and emerging superbugs are increasing. Following last years Obama call for a Global Task Force to address what is a top 3 global healthcare crisis, namely microbial resistance, the FDA's Dr Janet Woodcock announced on 11th June 2010 that the "FDA plans to publish additional guidance on these [drug-development] methods within the next six months to establish new standards for antimicrobial drugs".

March 2010: Destiny Pharma CEO Dr Bill Love invited to speak at the 2010 SMI Superbugs and Superdrugs conference

Following the well received presentation given at the 2009 conference, Dr Bill Love, CEO of Destiny Pharma was invited to give a further presentation at the 2010 meeting of the SMI Superbugs and Superdrugs conference held in London. The talk was entitled "The role of pharma SMEs in meeting the challenge for new antimicrobials". Other speakers at the conference included Professor Peter Hawkey, Professor of Public Health Bacteriology at the University of Birmingham & Health Protection Agency who presented data on the emergence of MRSA resistance to mupirocin and chlorhexidine and John Mueller, Senior Director, Biology Lead, Antibacterials Research Unit at Pfizer who presented a talk entitled "Responding to the emerging global challenge of bacterial multi-drug resistance". Senior executives from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Basilea Pharmaceutica, Cubist Pharmaceuticals and Astellas Pharma Europe also gave presentations during the meeting.

March 2010: Destiny Pharma press coverage in The Daily Telegraph

Destiny Pharma has received further coverage in the UK national press in an article in the 8th March edition of the Daily Telegraph by Victoria Lambert entitled "Bugs are changing - and we have a fight on our hands".

February 2010: Destiny Pharma present results at the 8th American Society for Microbiology Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research Meeting

Destiny Pharma presented their latest results on the antibacterial activity spectrum of the XF drugs at the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) organised meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. The in vitro results, which demonstrate that the XF drug platform have potent activity against a broad range of bio-threat pathogens such as anthrax, plague and burkholderia. These new results generated a great deal of interest during the course of the meeting.

February 2010: Landmark Publication demonstrating the benefits of bacterial decolonisation for the prevention of surgical site infections published in the New England Journal of Medicine

A landmark clinical trial was published in February 2010 by Bode et al. from an internationally renowned medical research school in the New England Journal of Medicine which presented data indicating that methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) decolonisation (nasal & body) halved the number of subsequent MSSA surgical site infections. This publication has impacted healthcare bodies around the world and the implications for widespread nasal decolonisation of Staphylococci (MRSA and now MSSA) are significant. In Europe and the USA the number of patients entering hospital who would be expected to be MRSA nasal carriers each year is about 6 million, while the number of MRSA and MSSA nasal carriers is estimated to be over 30 million.

November 2009: Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Publishes Key Paper on the Antibacterial Biofilm Activity of Destiny Pharma's XF Drugs

Following hot on the heels of the manuscript published in the highly regarded Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (JAC) in October, a further peer-reviewed article has been published in the November 2009 edition of the same journal entitled "XF-70 and XF-73, novel antibacterial agents active against slow-growing and non-dividing cultures of Staphylococcus aureus including biofilms" which describes the excellent activity that the XF compounds have against slow growing bacteria, even when they are present in biofilms. Dr Bill Love, CEO of Destiny Pharma explained further; "During the course of a bacterial infection, bacteria often encounter unfavourable conditions which result in the bacteria adapting by entering a dormant (non-growing) state. Many antibiotics are ineffective against bacteria in this state, which contributes to the prolonged treatment periods required for persistent infections. Non-growing bacteria are also present in bacterial biofilms, which are increasingly recognized as a factor in the inability of existing licensed antibiotics to successfully eradicate various infections. The formation of biofilms has been implicated in the development of dental caries, cystic fibrosis pneumonia and infections associated with indwelling medical devices." Dr Love continued: "There is a serious need for new antibacterial drugs which are active against such non-growing, biofilm-encased, bacteria and we are very excited about the potential of the XF drugs to tackle this significant medical unmet need".

October 2009: Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Publishes Key Paper on Destiny Pharma's Lead Compound XF-73 which Explains Novel Antibacterial Drug Action

Destiny Pharma have received further confirmation from peers that their leading compound marks a new class of antibacterial. This breakthrough is detailed in the latest edition (October 2009) of the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (JAC) this month. The peer-reviewed paper, entitled 'XF-73, a novel anti-staphylococcal membrane-active agent with rapid bactericidal activity', demonstrates that Destiny Pharma's XF-73 drug kills harmful bacteria in an entirely new and different way to traditional antibiotics. XF-73 is able to kill bacteria by a lethal interaction with the bacteria's membrane causing it to die within minutes.

The publication is timely as within the last month a report by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) highlighted both the urgent need for new antibacterial agents to combat the threat posed by the emergence of multi-drug resistance bacteria and the lack of new compounds in development. Dr Bill Love, CEO of Destiny Pharma, explained further: "We recognise the need to develop new drugs to combat the emergence new and existing Superbugs and are delighted with these new findings which clearly show that XF-73 drug action is distinct from all other antimicrobial classes. If XF medicines enter use within hospitals they will represent the first completely new class of antibacterial drug for quite some time".

September 2009: Destiny Pharma CEO Dr Bill Love Invited to Speak at the 11th Annual UBS Global Life Sciences Conference

Destiny Pharma CEO, Dr Bill Love was invited to present an overview of the Company and its product pipeline at the UBS Global Life Sciences conference in New York on the 21-23 September. This is a global premier congress where 270 of the worlds leading pharmaceutical companies gather to update the financial community on progress and future aims. Alongside companies such as AstraZeneca, Novartis, Cubist Pharmaceuticals and F Hoffmann La-Roche, the conference attendees included institutional investors from the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Dr Love said "This was an excellent forum to update a very informed audience on the exciting developments that have occurred at Destiny Pharma over the last 12 months, as well as gaining an insight into the directions the industry is moving".

September 2009: Destiny Pharma Presents at the 49th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) Meeting in San Francisco, USA

Destiny Pharma was invited to present three poster presentations at this year's prestigious ICAAC meeting in San Francisco, focusing on the latest data on the company's expanding portfolio of exciting antibacterial drugs. Data on the anti-biofilm activity of XF-70 was presented, demonstrating the potential for treatment and prevention of biofilm-related bacterial infections. In vivo efficacy data on XF-70 was also presented for the first time at this prestigious conference. New data on the antibacterial screening of a further six compounds in the company's portfolio were also presented, all of which demonstrated good antibacterial activity against important MRSA strains, including USA300, the strain responsible for the vast majority of Community-acquired MRSA infections in the USA.

August 2009: Recent Media Coverage of Destiny Pharma

The data presented at this year's 19th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) meeting held in Helsinki, Finland in May 2009 has been widely reported by a number of different pharmaceutical sector journals including PharmacyEurope, Medical News Today, the May issue of Anti Infective Drug News and the July/August issue of National Health Executive.

August 2009: Destiny Pharma CEO Dr Bill Love Invited to Speak at the 2010 SMI Superbugs and Superdrugs Conference

Following on from his well received presentation at the 2009 meeting, Dr Bill Love, CEO of Destiny Pharma has been invited as one of a select number of speakers from the pharmaceutical industry to deliver a further presentation at the 12th SMI Superbugs and Superdrugs Conference to be held in London in March 2010.

July 2009: Destiny Pharma CEO Dr Bill Love Invited to Speak at Whitehall at the Westminster Health Forum Meeting

Dr Bill Love, CEO of Destiny Pharma has been invited to make a speech at the July meeting of the Westminster Health Forum in Whitehall on 14th July 2009 on the subject of 'The role of Prevention & Early Diagnosis: (The Role of Innovation, new medicines & equipment)".

June 2009: Destiny Pharma Abstracts Accepted for ICAAC 2009

Destiny Pharma have had all three abstract submissions made to the prestigious 49th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) meeting to be held in San Francisco in September 2009 accepted for presentation. The abstracts will present new data on a number of new compounds coming through Destiny's development pipeline. Dr Bill Love, CEO of Destiny Pharma said "With XF-73, our lead compound for nasal decolonisation continuing its development in clinical trials, this recognition by ICAAC of the continued progress of Destiny Pharma's pipeline of further compounds in other therapeutic indications is an important milestone".

May 2009: Destiny Pharma Presents at the 19th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) held in Helsinki, Finland

Destiny Pharma was invited to present exciting new data on the mechanism of action of it's portfolio of drugs at this year's ECCMID meeting in Helsinki, Finland. Dr Bill Love, CEO of Destiny Pharma said "The demonstration that the unique and rapid antibacterial properties of the XF drugs has been extended to other platforms in the Destiny Pharma portfolio received a lot of interest and we are very excited by the potential of these compounds for application in new therapeutic indications".

March 2009: Destiny Pharma CEO Dr Bill Love invited to speak at the 2009 SMI Superbugs and Superdrugs conference

Dr Bill Love, CEO of Destiny Pharma was one of 10 invited speakers from the pharmaceutical industry to deliver presentations on advances in new anti-microbial drugs at the SMI Superbugs and Superdrugs conference held in London. Dr Love's presentation was entitled, "Creating New Approaches to Overcome Bacterial Resistance".

March 2009: Destiny Pharma CEO Dr Bill Love invited to speak at the 2009 Society of General Microbiology Spring conference

Dr Bill Love, CEO of Destiny Pharma was invited to present an overview of the XF Drug Platforms at the UK's Society of General Microbiology conference held in Harrogate.

March 2009: Destiny Pharma Call for Faster Acting Drugs

Widespread coverage of the call by Dr Bill Love, the CEO of Destiny Pharma for the UK's National Health Service (NHS) to use faster acting anti-bacterial drugs to implement the proposal for MRSA screening all NHS staff put forward by Sir Richard Branson, the vice-president of the UK Patients Association has been reported (Hospital Healthcare, Medical News Today, Pharma Marketletter & Anti-Infective Drug News). Dr Love said ""Eradication of MRSA from patients must be the first priority. Once this is in place the next logical step to quickly lower MRSA transmission and infection rates is to screen hospital staff for MRSA and treat them immediately if they are found to be carriers. All of the people who have opposed Sir Richard Branson's proposal have done so on the grounds of the impracticality and cost involved in putting members of hospital staff out of action for two weeks. Yet effective MRSA decolonisation does not need to take two or even one week to effect - this is just the treatment protocol for the drugs that are currently available. Better drugs are needed alongside a commitment to screening."

February 2009: Destiny Pharma Abstract Accepted for ECCMID 2009

Destiny Pharma has had its abstract reporting further results on the mechanism of action of it's portfolio of XF platform drugs accepted for presentation at the 19th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) meeting to be held in Helsinki, Finland in May 2009. Dr Bill Love, CEO of Destiny Pharma said: "The results to be presented at this prestigious conference will provide details about the rapid anti-bacterial action of new drugs under development within the Destiny Pharma portfolio".

 

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