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GLSV invests in Santaris Pharma A/S

17 Mar 2006 - Global Life Science Ventures (GLSV) announced an investment in Santaris Pharma A/S in a Series B financing round totalling EUR40 million, as part of a syndicate led by ABN AMRO Capital Life Science and also including BankInvest, Novo Ventures, LD Pensions, Væksfonden, SPEF Ventures, InnovationsKapital and others. As part of the financing arrangement, Dr. Holger Reithinger from GLSV will join the Board of Directors of Santaris Pharma. Santaris Pharma, based in Hørsholm, Denmark, is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing next generation RNA-silencing drugs for the treatment of cancer and metabolic diseases. The company, which was created in May 2003 through the merger of Cureon A/S and Pantheco A/S, owns the exclusive worldwide rights to the use of locked-nucleic acids (LNA) in pharmaceuticals . Santaris Pharma is using LNA to make novel, highly potent and stable RNA Antagonists. Such drugs have the potential to transform the field of RNA-targeted therapeutics, making specific and effective gene silencing a reality in human medicine. If this potential is realised, even in part, it should be possible to design new drugs to treat a wide variety of human diseases by switching off the expression of harmful genes.
 
The proceeds of the financing will be used to bring the company's portfolio of RNA Antagonist drug candidates through early clinical safety and efficacy studies in oncology and metabolic disorders. The lead drug candidate, SPC 2996, is an RNA Antagonist of Bcl-2, a gene implicated in several cancers, and is currently in an international phase I/II clinical trial in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. In addition, the funds will enable further development of Santaris Pharma's world leading platform for LNA-based therapeutics, including a recently announced program in LNA-based microRNA antagonists.