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Santaris Pharma raises EUR 40m of new equity
Copenhagen, 15th
March 2006: Santaris
Pharma, the Danish biopharmaceutical company specialising in the development of
RNA Antagonist drugs based on Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA®),
announced today that it has completed a EUR 40m (DKK 298.4m, US$ 48.3m) private
investment round. The investment in Santaris Pharma has been made by an international syndicate of premier life science venture investors, led by ABN AMRO Capital Life Sciences of the Netherlands. The syndicate also includes Global Life Science Ventures of Germany and Switzerland, Vækstfonden of Denmark, and SPEF Venture of France. These new shareholders contributed approximately 50% of the round and Martien van Osch from ABN AMRO Capital and Dr. Holger Reithinger from GLSV will join the Board of Directors of Santaris Pharma. The remaining investment was made by existing shareholders, including BankInvest, Novo Ventures, LD Pensions, Dansk Kapitalanlæg and Dansk Erhvervsinvestering all of Denmark, InnovationsKapital of Sweden and Teknoinvest of Norway.
The proceeds of the financing will be used primarily to fund continued development of Santaris Pharma’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 the blood cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. The funds will enable the start of clinical studies with other RNA Antagonists and the further development of Santaris Pharma’s world-leading platform for LNA-based human therapeutics.
The EUR 40m aggregate investment includes the conversion to equity of approximately EUR 8m of convertible debentures, invested by existing shareholders in 2005. Cash investment in the financing is structured in two equal tranches, the first received by the Company now and the second to be received in 12 months time. The Company expects that the funds will be sufficient to finance operations until approximately mid-2008. Prior to the end of this period, Santaris Pharma expects to raise further financing via an initial public offering on a recognised stock exchange or by another appropriate transaction.
In announcing the Series B financing, Dr Keith McCullagh, Santaris Pharma’s CEO, said:
“We welcome ABN AMRO, Global Life Science Ventures, Vækstfonden and SPEF Venture as new shareholders in Santaris Pharma. They are all experienced investors in life sciences and join the Company’s existing group of high quality Scandinavian shareholders. The commercial potential of LNA-based therapeutics in medicine is high and the EUR 40m investment will enable us to evaluate the success of these drugs in Phase I and II clinical development.”
On behalf of the new investor syndicate, Martien van Osch, a Director of ABN AMRO Capital’s Life Science team, said:
“We have been pleased with the high level of interest from prospective new international investors in Santaris Pharma, its proprietary technology and exciting new product opportunities. We have had to scale back offers of investment in order to align with Company’s needs. We look forward to working successfully with the Santaris Pharma’s management and existing shareholders with the aim of creating strong pipeline growth.”
Welcoming the investment on behalf of existing shareholders, Jesper Zeuthen, Santaris Pharma’s chairman, commented:
“Santaris Pharma has matured rapidly since it was created in 2003. The Company now has an excellent management team, a portfolio of innovative potential products and an outstanding intellectual property position in LNA therapeutics. We are delighted to participate in structuring this significant new round of equity finance, which has also broadened and strengthened the Company’s shareholder base.”
- ENDS - For further information, please contact Santaris Pharma:
For additional support in London,
contact Northbank Communications:
Or in Copenhagen, contact Reliance A/S:
Poul Lykkesfeldt NOTES FOR EDITORS About Santaris Pharma Santaris Pharma A/S is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focussed on developing next generation RNA-silencing drugs based on its proprietary LNA® (Locked Nucleic Acid) technology for the treatment of cancer, metabolic disorders and other serious diseases. Created in May 2003 through a merger of Pantheco A/S and Cureon A/S, Santaris Pharma is backed by a broad group of leading international life-science venture capital investors. The Company’s drug pipeline is comprised of novel RNA Antagonist drugs based on its unique LNA® chemistry. LNA drugs, with their high potency and biostability, have the potential to transform the field of RNA inhibiting therapeutics, making specific and effective gene silencing a reality in human medicine. If this potential is realised, even in part, it may be possible to design new drugs to treat a wide variety of human diseases by switching off the expression of harmful genes. Santaris Pharma holds the world wide patent rights to the exploitation of LNA in pharmaceuticals and presently has three drugs in preclinical or clinical development. The lead drug candidate, SPC2996, is currently undergoing an international, multicentre, phase I/II clinical study in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL). About Santaris Pharma’s LNA® Technology
Santaris Pharma’s LNA® Technology is based on synthetic analogs of ribonucleic acid (RNA) in which the normally flexible ribose sugar ring is fixed in a more rigid conformation through a molecular bridge between two carbon atoms in the sugar ring. When incorporated into a short nucleotide chain (oligonucleotide) drug, the presence of LNA results in several therapeutic advantages. Such drugs use the “antisense” priniciple to block the function of specific RNAs within cells and tissues. In particular, they can be used to switch off the synthesis of harmful proteins thereby potentially altering disease outcomes in cancer or other serious disorders.
Because LNA has very high RNA-binding affinity, LNA-containing drugs have enhanced potency, excellent specificity and high metabolic stability and provide improved efficacy at lower doses than comparable drugs based on other technologies, such as siRNA. Santaris Pharma’s LNA compounds have proven to be 100 to 1,000 times more potent in vitro than conventional antisense compounds and 10 to 100 times more potent in vivo than the best siRNA’s (small interfering RNAs) published to date.
For further company information see www.santaris.com
About the New Investors
Summary information on the new investors in the Series B round is provided below.
(a) ABN AMRO Capital www.abnamrocapital.com
ABN AMRO Capital/Life Sciences (AAC LS) is the venture arm of ABN AMRO Bank N.V. of the Netherlands. AAC LS builds and finances life sciences companies that develop world-class technology with a clear focus on products for major markets. Of particular interest are businesses capable of improving the diagnosis and treatment of disease, as well as companies with technologies that accelerate drug discovery and development. Over the past 7 years, through investments in more than 30 companies in both Europe and the US, the AAC LS team has achieved considerable success and above average returns.
(b) Global Life Science Ventures www.glsv-vc.com
GLSV is a leading, independent venture capital fund focusing exclusively on the life sciences. With offices in Germany and Switzerland, GLSV is dedicated to supporting early-stage companies originating from universities, scientific institutions or industry, but also invests in selected later-stage companies, including buy-outs. The group currently advises and manages funds totalling more than €200 million. GLSV has now financed 30 innovative life science companies in Europe and the US, twelve of which have completed an exit through IPO, trade sale or M&A. Since 1996, GLSV has built up a broadly diversified portfolio of companies in pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices, and biotechnology.
(c) Vækstfonden www.vf.dk
Vaekstfonden is a financial organisation with a mission to strengthen the development of promising small- and medium-size businesses. The Life Science Ventures team has a focus on accelerating world class companies in the areas of Medical Technologies, Diagnostics and Drug Development. Life Science Ventures expects that the LNA platform of Santaris Pharma A/S will provide a significant and valuable technology for the development of future therapies.
(d) SPEF Venture www.spef-venture.fr
SPEF VENTURE is one of the leading venture capital firms in France and a subsidiary of Natexis Private Equity, the asset management company of Natexis-Banque Populaire, which manages €2.3 billion in private equity investments. SPEF VENTURE manages around €350 million and invests in Life Sciences and Information Technology all over Europe. In lifesciences, our 3 favoured sectors are biotech & pharmaceuticals, medical device and chemical/industrial biotech, but we also consider investments in diagnostics, drug delivery systems, environment, bio-energy, skin care, nutraceuticals, wellness and services. The SPEF VENTURE team and its 10 professional investors have a proven track record and deep base of knowledge in technology, entrepreneurship, operations, venture capital, and in the needs
generated by a company's growth.
Summary information on Santaris Pharma’s existing shareholders participating in the round is provided below.
(a) BankInvest Biomedical Venture www.bi.dk
BankInvest Biomedical Venture is a leading life science investor dedicated to drug development.The first BankInvest Biomedical Venture fund was established in 1998 and with 3 other funds raised in 1999, 2001 and 2005. EUR 410 million is under management. Currently, 32 portfolio companies, located in Scandinavia, Europe and the US are in progress within therapeutic areas with highly unmet medical needs. Five portfolio companies have already achieved an IPO and 6 companies have been sold in M&A transactions.
(b) LD www.ld.dk
LD Pensions is one of Denmark’s largest pension funds with more than US $10 billion under management, has a long-term and highly selective investment strategy. Investments made in unlisted companies are based on a fundamental analysis of the opportunity with an objective to hold the investment for a minimum of 3-5 years in order to position the company for a strategic sale or stock exchange listing.
(c) Novo www.novo.dk
Novo A/S is the holding and investment company of the Novo Group, fully owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Novo A/S was established to manage the Foundation's funds and to invest actively in other life science companies. Novo A/S is an active and independent player within the biotech venture capital business and invests on a global scale. Through Novo Ventures it is the aspiration to bring our portfolio companies the best of two worlds by combining industry insight and network from our pharmaceutical heritage with a return focused, venture capital mindset.
(d) InnovationsKapital www.innkap.se InnovationsKapital was founded in 1994 and is a leading, early-stage, venture capital firm for innovative growth companies in the Nordic region. The business, carried out from offices in Gothenburg and Stockholm, is focused on Nordic investments within ICT and Healthcare & Life Sciences – dynamic sectors that are rapidly expanding and where Nordic research plays an important role. InnovationsKapital currently advises three venture funds aggregating EUR 200 million in committed capital. The capital is provided by Swedish and international institutional investors.
(e) Teknoinvest www.teknoinvest.no
Teknoinvest is a premier Scandinavian venture capital company headquartered in Norway. We invest into emerging technologies within the IT/Telecom and Life Sciences sectors. Our main geographical scope is Scandinavia and the USA. Teknoinvest was established as the first venture capital investment company in Norway in 1984.
(f) Dansk Kapitalanlæg www.dankap.dk
Dansk Kapitalanlæg is a Danish Private Equity Company investing in small and medium sized portfolio companies with a high growth potential. Since 1984 Dansk Kapitalanlæg has invested more than 3 billion DKK in 175 portfolio companies. At present Dansk Kapitalanlæg has 1 billion DKK under management invested in 47 portfolio companies, including Santaris Pharma.
(g) Dansk Ehrvervsinvestering www.dan-erhv.dk Dansk Erhvervsinvestering A/S is a venture capital company founded in 1983. The company’s investors are Danish banks, pension funds and labour organizations. Dansk Erhvervsinvestering’s equity capital is approx. DKK 960 million and the current portfolio consists of 39 companies within the fields of manufacturing, IT and biotechnology/healthcare. Dansk Erhvervsinvestering also manages Dansk Innovationsinvestering P/S, a venture capital company with a portfolio of 11 companies.
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