Shire Inks Research Deal With Denmark's Santaris
August 24 2009 - 9:27AM
Dow Jones News
U.K. drug maker Shire PLC (SHP.LN) Monday said it inked a deal
with Denmark's Santaris Pharma A/S to develop new drugs for rare
diseases.
Shire and privately-held Santaris said they entered a research
collaboration to use Santaris' locked nucleic acid, or LNA, drug
technology to try to find new drugs for rare genetic conditions.
They didn't say specify what conditions they were looking at.
Santaris said it will receive initial payments of $6.5 million
and another $13.5 million once it has completed some early studies.
The Danish company said it is eligible for another $72 million for
each of five potential drug candidates in development and
regulatory milestones, and will receive a royalty on sales of any
drugs that eventually make it to market.
Santaris's LNA technology is designed to create drugs that mimic
bits of ribonucleic acid, or RNA, a kind of messaging system
involved in the production of proteins in cells and gene
expression.
The aim is to use these experimental LNA therapeutics, called
oligonucleotides, to deactivate pieces of RNA associated with
disease. These oligonucleotides are also hardier than other types
of RNA-based drugs, according to Santaris.
The science of RNA-based drugs is still largely in the very
early stages of development. Other firms in the field include
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALNY) of the U.S. and the U.K.'s
Silence Therapeutics PLC (SLN.LN).
Santaris also has partnerships with GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK.LN)
and Wyeth (WYE) and has programs in cancer, metabolic disorders and
infectious diseases.
Company Web site: www.shire.com
-By Jason Douglas, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9272;
jason.douglas@dowjones.com