Santaris Pharma, miRagen collaborate to develop microRNA-targeted medicines for cardiovascular disease

Jun 23 2010

Santaris Pharma A/S, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies and miRagen Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative microRNA-based therapeutics for cardiovascular and muscle disease, announced today that they have formed a strategic alliance to develop microRNA-targeted medicines for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death worldwide, claiming 17.1 million lives a year, or 29 percent of all deaths globally. An estimated 81 million American adults – more than one in three – have one or more types of cardiovascular disease, which include high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, congenital cardiovascular defects, heart attack, chest pain, heart failure and stroke.

miRagen is planning to develop and commercialize single-stranded LNA-based product candidates intended for the treatment of cardiovascular disease by utilizing Santaris Pharma A/S proprietary Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) Drug Platform. Under the terms of the agreement, Santaris Pharma A/S received a minority equity interest in miRagen, and is eligible to receive milestone payments and royalties upon achievement of certain development and regulatory milestones. Financial terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.

"We are pleased that miRagen selected Santaris Pharma A/S as its preferred partner, further validating that our LNA Drug Platform is the technology-of-choice for developing RNA-targeted medicines," said Soeren Tulstrup, President and CEO of Santaris Pharma A/S. "This collaboration is a prime example of two companies leveraging their unique capabilities in developing RNA-targeted medicines and combined expertise in cardiovascular disease to develop new medicines for life-threatening diseases. Santaris Pharma A/S looks forward to adding more alliances with biotechnology companies to its growing list of partners."

The unique combination of pharmaceutical properties, small size and very high affinity of LNA-based drugs developed utilizing Santaris Pharma A/S LNA Drug Platform allows this new class of drugs to potently and specifically inhibit RNA-targets in many different tissues without the need for complex delivery vehicles.

"We are very enthusiastic about our collaboration with Santaris Pharma, which provides us with what we believe is best-in-class technology to advance our mission of developing innovative microRNA-based therapies intended for the treatment of patients with cardiovascular and muscle disease," said William S. Marshall, Ph.D., President and CEO of miRagen Therapeutics.  "Santaris Pharma's LNA drug platform, which has produced compounds already in the clinic, can help to accelerate our development programs by providing the most effective anti-microRNA chemistry we've explored to date."