Enzon, Santaris to develop RNA antagonists for cancer therapeutics

By Elaine Rigoli

Tampa, Fla., July 27 - Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Santaris Pharma have entered into a collaboration to co-develop and commercialize a series of RNA antagonists based on Santaris Pharma's locked nucleic acid technology and Enzon's oncology drug development experience.

Enzon will make an initial up-front payment of $8 million to Santaris Pharma, followed by an additional $3 million upon the successful identification of certain locked nucleic acid targets and additional payments on the achievement of pre-specified discovery, development and regulatory milestones, representing a potential total of more than $200 million.

Under the agreement, Enzon is licensing two of Santaris Pharma's preclinical development compounds, the HIF-1 alpha antagonist (SPC2968) and the Survivin antagonist (SPC3042), and six additional proprietary RNA antagonist candidates, all to be directed against novel oncology drug targets selected by Enzon.

Enzon will have exclusive rights to develop and commercialize these compounds in the United States and other non-European territories. Santaris will retain exclusive rights to commercialization in Europe. The companies will share development data for use in their respective territories.

Further, Enzon will pay royalties to Santaris Pharma on net sales of RNA antagonist products resulting from the collaboration in non-European territories.

Enzon is a biopharmaceutical company located in Bridgewater, N.J.

Santaris is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in Copenhagen, Denmark.

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