Destiny Pharma plc
("Destiny Pharma" or "the Company")

New publication shows XF-73 drug potent against 2,527 Staphylococcus isolates

Largest study of its kind to date demonstrates effectiveness of XF-73 against all tested antibiotic resistant strains

Brighton, United Kingdom - 17 October 2023 - 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 announces the publication of new microbiological data on XF-73 (exeporfinium chloride), its leading antibacterial drug, in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology.

The paper, 'Screening of the novel antimicrobial drug XF-73 against 2,527 Staphylococcus species clinical isolates', examined the efficacy of XF-73 against more than 2,500 Staphylococcus isolates with wide geographical and clinical diversity. These isolates from 33 countries across Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa, encompass 16 different staphylococcal species, including resistant strains taken from patient infections such as skin and soft tissue infections, respiratory tract infections and hospital-acquired pneumonia.

The screening of XF-73 against this wide range of isolates yielded the following landmark findings: 

·    XF-73 effective against all 2,527 isolates tested

·    XF-73 effective against all tested antibiotic resistance mechanisms

·    XF-73 effective against 840 MRSA¹ clinical isolates from around the world

·   XF-73 effective against S. epidermidis, S. saprophyticus, S. haemolyticus, S.capitis, S. hominis and S. lugdunensis - all of high clinical significance²

These critical findings support the urgency of XF-73 nasal's late-stage development and need for its global regulatory approval.  XF‑73 demonstrates exceptionally broad potency across a huge range of Staphylococcus isolates, including antibiotic resistant strains, with no resistance observed. This study demonstrates XF-73's global effectiveness and reinforces the significant commercial opportunity. Importantly it also demonstrates the potential of XF-73 nasal to address the shortcomings of current standard of care nasal antibiotics, which contribute to the global rise in Staphylococcus aureus antibiotic resistance thereby limiting the effectiveness of current infection reduction approaches.

Dr Bill Love, Chief Scientific Officer of Destiny Pharma said: "This peer-reviewed publication demonstrates that XF-73 has activity against all global staphylococcal strains tested that were obtained from patients who had infection from these bacteria.  This landmark data set will support the approval process for this breakthrough drug in our lead indication for the prevention of postsurgical staphylococcal infection."

Chris Tovey, CEO of Destiny Pharma, added: "The World Health Organisation has declared antimicrobial resistance to be one of the top ten global public health threats facing humanity. These new findings underscore the transformative potential of XF-73 nasal not only to prevent post-surgical infection of a vast range of staphylococcal strains but also, critically, to be effective against all S. aureus tested antibiotic resistant strains. We look forward to sharing further details on the importance of these findings at our XF pipeline event later today."

References:

1.    https://www.doherty.edu.au/news-events/news/who-global-priority-pathogens-list-of-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria

2.    Michels, R., Last, K., Becker, S. L., and Papan, C. (2021). Update on Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci-What the Clinician Should Know. Microorganisms 9, 830. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9040830

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For further information, please contact:

Destiny Pharma plc
Chris Tovey, CEO
Shaun Claydon, CFO
+44 (0)1273 704 440
[email protected]

Powerscourt Group
Sarah Macleod / Adam Michael / Ollie Simmonds / Christopher Ward
+44 (0) 20 7250 1446

[email protected]

Cavendish Capital Markets Limited (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)

Geoff Nash / George Dollemore, Corporate Finance

Nigel Birks / Harriet Ward, ECM

+44 (0) 207 220 0500

Shore Capital (Joint 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 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, and XF-73 nasal gel, a proprietary drug targeting the prevention of post-surgical staphylococcal hospital infections including MRSA.

For further information on the company, please visit www.destinypharma.com