Santaris raises 40M euros of new equity

Danish biopharmaceutical company Santaris Pharma, which specializes in the development of RNA antagonist drugs based on Locked Nucleic Acid, says it has completed a 40.0 million-euro ($48.3 million) private placing round. The investment in Santaris has been made by an international syndicate of life science venture capitalists, led by ABN AMRO Capital Life Sciences of the Netherlands.

The proceeds of the financing will be used primarily to fund the continued development of the Danish firm's portfolio of innovative drug candidates based on LNA, including SPC 2996, an RNA antagonist to Bcl-2, currently in an international Phase I/II clinical trial in patients with blood cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The funds will enable the start of clinical studies with other RNA antagonists and the further development of Santaris' platform for LNA-based human therapeutics, the firm says.

Welcoming the investment, Santaris chairman Jesper Zeuthen said the company "has matured rapidly since it was created in 2003 [and] now has an excellent management team, a portfolio of innovative potential products and an outstanding intellectual property position in LNA therapeutics."