Destiny Pharma appoints Professor Mark Wilcox to Scientific Advisory Board

Destiny Pharma Plc (AIM: DEST) a clinical stage innovative biotechnology company focused on the development of novel medicines that can prevent life threatening infections, today announces the appointment of Professor Mark Wilcox to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).

Professor Wilcox is a consultant microbiologist and Head of R&D in Microbiology at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals and is Lead on Clostridium difficile infection for Public Health England (PHE). He also has advisory roles to UK SAGE (COVID-19), NHS England’s Infection Prevention & Control national team and PHE’s Rapid Review Panel (reviewing the utility of infection prevention and control products for the NHS), and is a member of the UK NHS Antimicrobial Resistance Programme Board.

Dr Bill Love, Chief Scientific Officer of Destiny Pharma, commented, “We are pleased to welcome Professor Wilcox who is a recognised leader in UK/NHS infection prevention and control and a globally renowned expert in C. difficile infection. His knowledge compliments the existing expertise on our SAB as we plan for Phase 3 trials for our recently acquired asset, NTCD-M3, which is targeting the prevention of C. difficile infection recurrence. Professor Wilcox also brings an expert understanding of MRSA and COVID-19 hospital infections which is valuable insight for Destiny Pharma’s other preventative products in development, namely XF-73 and SPOR-COV.”

Professor Mark Wilcox, added, “NTCD-M3 is a novel way to out-compete pathogenic C. difficile that can remain in the gut after antibiotic treatment of C. difficile infection. I am greatly encouraged by the animal model and clinical trial data that support the ambition to use M3 to reduce the risk of recurrent C. difficile infection, which is the Achilles’ heel of antibiotic therapy.”

Professor Wilcox leads a Healthcare Associated Infection Research Group at the University of Leeds (http://medhealth.leeds.ac.uk/hcai), comprising ~30 doctors, scientists and nurses. Projects include multiple aspects of Clostridium difficile infection, diagnostics, antimicrobial resistance and the gut microbiome, infection prevention and control interventions, and the clinical development of new antimicrobial agents,
(https://medicinehealth.leeds.ac.uk/medicine/staff/3541/professor-mark-wilcox), including providing the basis of clinical advice to the NHS. He has been the Principal/UK Investigator for 16 clinical trials of new anti-infective drugs, 1999-2021. He has authored >550 papers and published a number of books and chapters.