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

DIVESTMENT OF DEXTRA SERVCIES BUSINESS TO NEW ZEALAND PHARMACEUTICALS

Oxford, UK, 02 September, 2009 - Summit Corporation plc (AIM: SUMM),
a UK drug discovery company, announces that it has divested its
chemistry services subsidiary, Dextra Laboratories ("Dextra") to New
Zealand Pharmaceuticals ("NZP") in order to focus on its iminosugar
drug discovery business.

The key terms of the divestment are as follows:
*          Consideration of £950,000 paid in cash in respect of the
  whole issued share capital of Dextra
*          All employees of the Dextra subsidiary business will
  become employees of NZP with immediate effect

In addition, Summit will retain the cash balance at the close of
business on 31 August 2009. The combined impact of the realised
consideration and cash balance will extend Summit's cash resources
into Q2 2010.

The proceeds from the divestment will support the working capital
requirements of the business that is now exclusively focused on drug
discovery, and specifically, the development of the Company's
innovative iminosugar platform.  Summit now employs a total of 25
staff based at its single site in Oxfordshire, UK.

Steven Lee, PhD, Chief Executive Officer at Summit said, "This
divestment is positive news for Summit and builds on the progress
made in our restructuring programme over the last six months as the
business continues to streamline its operations and focus on our
iminosugar drug discovery platform.

"This additional finance extends our cash life into Q2 2010 and will
support the continuing development of our innovative iminosugar drug
discovery platform.  Over the coming months, we anticipate generating
key data from our diabetes and Hepatitis C programmes, both of which
could potentially develop into new, attractive licensing
opportunities.

We believe NZP offers the best strategic fit for the Dextra business
and provides the best opportunity to realise the potential of Dextra
and its employees"

Dr Richard Garland, Managing Director of NZP said "The acquisition of
Dextra complements NZP's offering to the global carbohydrates market
well.  Dextra's strong medicinal and pre-clinical contract synthesis
capabilities and cGMP contract manufacturing to Phase I clinical
trial, align well with NZP's existing Phase II to full-scale
carbohydrate manufacturing capability, providing a single seamless
link from discovery to full scale cGMP manufacture".

About Dextra
Dextra is a specialist chemistry and analytical services business
with a process development and GMP manufacturing capability and a
chemical catalogue sales business.  Dextra made a net operating loss,
excluding non-cash impairment charges, of £1.1 million for the
financial year ended 31 January 2009 under exceptionally difficult
trading conditions throughout 2008 and following capital expenditure
and increase in headcount in line with Dextra's strategy for
long-term growth. The value of its net assets transferred amounted to
£1.2 million.

                              - ENDS -


For more information, please contact:
Summit plc
Steven Lee, PhD
Richard Pye, PhD
Tel: +44 (0)1235 443939

Panmure Gordon
Andrew Burnett / Rakesh Sharma (Corporate Finance)
Ashton Clanfield (Corporate Broking)
Tel: +44 (0)207 459 3600


About Summit plc
Summit plc is a UK based drug discovery company with a major focus on
developing new therapeutics from its iminosugar drug discovery
platform.

Summit believes iminosugars are the key to gaining access to several
disease mechanisms where classical drug candidates have had little
success, and therefore offer a major opportunity for the discovery
and development of new medicines.

Carbohydrates play critical roles in maintaining correct function of
many normal processes in healthy individuals and provide a wealth of
new targets for drug discovery.  Iminosugars have the capability of
accessing such targets and offer the potential of generating new
medicines in a variety of major therapy areas.  Summit is currently
focussed on metabolic diseases, including diabetes, and anti-virals.

Commercially, Summit has a track record of signing programme
agreements and currently has an out-licensed product portfolio
comprising of seven drug programmes with BioMarin, Orient Pharma,
Evolva and the Lilly TB Drug Discovery Initiative.  In the future
these programmes may generate success based milestone payments and
royalties for Summit.

The company listed on the alternative investment market (AIM) of the
London Stock Exchange in October 2004 - symbol: SUMM.  Further
information about the company is available at www.summitplc.com.


About NZP
New Zealand Pharmaceuticals (NZP) has been manufacturing high purity
biochemicals since the early 1970's from its base in Palmerston
North, New Zealand. The company's products are either extracted and
purified from natural raw materials or synthesised small
molecules. Products include bile acids, glycosaminoglycans, protein
hydrolysates, amino acids, sugars and a range of plant-derived
products, most notably blackcurrant extracts under its "Just the
Berries" brand.

Building on its polysaccharide business, NZP expanded to specialise
in the chemical synthesis of a range of sugar and bile acid
derivatives. The synthetic bile acid derivatives are used in drug
delivery, as adjuvants and in vaccine production amongst other uses.
In 2007 NZP opened a $10m API capable facility specifically designed
for bulk GMP manufacture of these products.

Excellent business relationships, reliability and responsiveness are
the key to NZP's ongoing growth, underpinning over 30 years of supply
& service to many of the pharmaceutical & biotechnology industries
largest and most demanding clients. Furthermore, NZP has a range of
large volume manufacturing capabilities, and its licences include a
medicines licence for the manufacture of specific medicines,
biological processing licence for the manufacture of animal-derived
products and GMP certification to manufacture active pharmaceutical
ingredients.

NZP is a private company, owned 51% by Direct Capital (a leading New
Zealand private equity and venture capital firm) with the remaining
49% of shares held by NZP management and staff.


This document contains "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as
"anticipates", "intends", "plans", "seeks", "believes", "estimates",
"expects" and similar references to future periods, or by the
inclusion of forecasts or projections.

Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current
expectations and assumptions regarding our business, the economy and
other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to
the future, by their nature, they are subject to inherent
uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult
to predict. The Company's actual results may differ materially from
those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. The Company
cautions you therefore that you should not rely on any of these
forward-looking statements as statements of historical fact or as
guarantees or assurances of future performance. Important factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in
the forward-looking statements and regional, national, global
political, economic, business, competitive, market and regulatory
conditions.

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