Santaris Pharma - Interim Report for the Period 1 January to 30...( HORSHOLM Denmark July 14 /- The B...)

HORSHOLM, Denmark, July 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Santaris Pharma has approved the Interim Report for the period 1 January to 30 June 2009.

    - The loss after tax realised in the 2nd quarter of 2009 was
      21,6m DKK (2,9m EUR) compared to 29,8m DKK (4,0m EUR) in the 2nd
      quarter of 2008.

    - As at June 30, 2009 the capital resources totalled 175,4m
      DKK (23,6m EUR).

    - In Q2 the SPC3649 compound targeting hepatitis C finalized a
      single dose First/In/Man study with encouraging results and a multiple
      ascending dose study in healthy volunteers is scheduled to commence in
      Q3 2009.

    - Santaris Pharma's new lead candidate SPC4955 targeting
      apoliproteinB, the major cholesterol carrying protein in the blood, has
      been selected for preclinical trials.

    - Lead candidates targeting PCSK9, which is known to play a
      critical role in regulating cholesterol levels, have been selected for
      pharmacological studies.

    - The Collaboration with the Company's 3rd partner, Wyeth, was
      initiated during the first months of 2009 and is progressing according
      to the plan.


    (Logo:http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090420/344344 )

During the first half of 2009 Santaris Pharma continued to make satisfactory progress in its research and development programs within miRNA, metabolic disorders and infectious diseases. Key milestones achieved and other events during the quarter are summarized below.

Development

SPC3649-HCV

SPC3649 is a potent and specific inhibitor of microRNA-122 known to be involved in cholesterol metabolism and in hepatitis virus replication in the liver. In April 2009, Santaris Pharma completed a Phase I First-in-Man single dose study of SPC3649 with 60 healthy volunteers and t
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