New XF-73 skin infection clinical programme planned to start in China led by existing partner, China Medical System Holdings Limited

New XF-73 skin infection clinical programme planned to start in China led by existing partner, China Medical System Holdings Limited

Targeting prevention and treatment of superficial skin infections caused by bacteria

Brighton, United Kingdom – 27 September 2021 – Destiny Pharma (AIM: DEST), a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel medicines to prevent life threatening infections, is pleased to announce that the Company’s China regional partner and investor, China Medical System Holdings Limited (CMS), is establishing a new programme with XF-73 targeting the prevention and treatment of superficial skin infections caused by bacteria.

The programme will be run in China and will be focused on delivering a novel product in the local regulatory environment. The project will be led, managed and funded by CMS. Destiny Pharma will contribute scientific advice as required through a steering committee to the expert dermatology team at CMS. CMS has an extensive portfolio of dermatology assets and an expert understanding of the market and its requirements through its existing sales and marketing infrastructure.

Destiny Pharma has cross-reference rights to data generated from the programme and, in the future, could start a similar skin infection clinical programme focused on commercial territories outside those held by CMS (China and other Asian countries excluding Japan).

Destiny Pharma is currently running its own dermal programme with XF-73 in a different indication targeting the prevention and treatment of serious infections associated with burns and open wounds.  This programme is in collaboration with both the US government's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and as part of the Global AMR Innovation Fund (GAMRIF) funded UK-China bilateral partnership to tackle AMR which is managed by Innovate UK. This new CMS initiative adds a further, differentiated product to Destiny Pharma’s pipeline, leveraging off the very strong efficacy, formulation and safety package generated to date by the XF platform.

Neil Clark, Chief Executive Officer of Destiny Pharma, said: “We are very pleased to announce the addition of this new XF-73 dermal clinical programme to our portfolio with our partner China Medical System Holdings Limited. We are looking forward to the future development of this programme as well as our other infection prevention assets as we continue to build a high quality, late-stage biotechnology company.”