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


INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 31 JULY 2009

Oxford, UK, 23 October 2009 - Summit Corporation plc (AIM: SUMM), a
UK drug discovery company, announces its interim results for the six
months ended 31 July 2009.

Highlights

Operational: New window of opportunity created
* Major restructuring programme completed
* Additional working capital raised through divestment of non-core
  business operations
* Operational cash-burn more than halved with full benefit of
  restructuring to be reflected in the six months ending 31 January
  2010
* Group now focussed on iminosugar platform development and deals

Scientific: Advances in iminosugar drug discovery platform
* Generation of positive data in therapeutic focus areas of metabolic
  diseases (diabetes) and anti-virals (hepatitis C)
* Continued expansion of iminosugar collection with increased
  protection through additional patent filings

Commercial: Continuing expansion of the Product Portfolio
* Three new cross license agreements signed with Orient Pharma for
  acne (SMT D002), glaucoma (SMT D003) and AMD (SMT D004) programmes
* Total of seven programmes in the portfolio: No future costs to
  Summit with contractual, success based milestones potentially
  exceeding $160m plus sales royalties
* Interest in potential license for diabetes programme shown by
  several international pharmaceutical companies

Financial: Extension of cash life
* Loss from continuing operations for the six months ended 31 July
  2009 down to £2.95m (2008: £6.68m); total loss for the period:
  £3.18m (2008: £7.09m)
* Cash position of £0.86m at 31 July 2009 (31 Jan 2009: £2.72m)
* Sale proceeds from divestment of zebrafish of £0.50m and post
  period £0.95m from divestment of Dextra Laboratories
* Receipt of R&D tax credit claims totalling £0.75m expected in Q4
  2009
* Cash life extended into Q2 2010 on current cash burn and additional
  activities on-going to secure long-term future of the business
* Option to radically cut costs remains, in absence of new deals, to
  extend cash life to receipt of existing deal milestones
Steven Lee, PhD, Chief Executive Officer at Summit said, "Summit
emerges from a challenging period as a streamlined business with a
primary focus on novel therapeutics from our iminosugar drug
discovery platform.  The completion of our restructuring programme
provides us with a window of opportunity in which to complete
additional activities that will further strengthen the financial
position of the Company.

"Summit looks forward to realising increasing value from our existing
collaborative agreements, with their contractual success-based
milestones worth over $160 million plus sales royalties, and from
future programme deals.  From our current position, I have confidence
that the business will deliver value to our shareholders."

                             -- 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