Copenhagen, 19 June 2007, Santaris Pharma, the Danish biopharmaceutical company, announced today that Hanne Damgaard Jensen, previously Senior Vice-President of Drug Development at Genmab A/S, has been appointed Senior Vice-President of Product Development for Santaris Pharma with immediate effect. Announcing the appointment, Dr Keith McCullagh, President and CEO of Santaris Pharma, said: "I am delighted to welcome Hanne Damgaard Jensen as a new member of Santaris Pharma’s management team. Her appointment signifies our commitment to building a world class pipeline of new RNA Antagonist drugs. She brings substantial experience to the Company of managing successful international drug development projects."
Hanne Damgaard joins Santaris following 7 years of service at Genmab A/S, a Copenhagen listed biopharmaceutical company developing human antibody drugs where she was Director of Regulatory Affairs from 2000-2003, Vice-President of Drug Development from 2003 to 2005 and Senior Vice-President of Drug Development from 2006 to 2007. Prior to joining Genmab, she held various positions in regulatory affairs at Novo Nordisk from 1995 to 1999 and was a pharmaceutical development scientist IOLAB Corporation, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, from 1990 to 1994.
Hanne Damgaard qualified with an MSc in Pharmacy from the Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences and is an MBA graduate of the Scandinavian International Management Institute.
For further information, please contact:
Dr Keith McCullagh
President & CEO, Santaris Pharma,
Tel +45 4517 9819 (direct line) +45 4517 9820 (Company)
Mobile/Cell +44 7939 573548
e-mail km@santaris.com
About Santaris Pharma
Santaris Pharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing a new class of drugs intended to switch off the expression of harmful genes. Called RNA Antagonists, these new drugs are being developed by Santaris and its corporate partners for the treatment of cancer and metabolic disorders. Created in May 2003 and backed by a broad group of leading international life science venture capital investors, Santaris Pharma completed a Euro 40m second round of equity financing in May 2006. In July 2006, the Company entered into a global partnership with Enzon Pharmaceuticals of New Jersey to co-develop and commercialise a series of Santaris RNA Antagonists for improving the treatment of cancer.
Santaris Pharma’s RNA Antagonist drug pipeline is based on its unique LNA technology. LNA drugs, with their high potency and biostability, have the potential to transform the field of RNAi medicines, 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 the underlying genetic causes of disease rather than just the physical symptoms. 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 international, multicenter, phase I/II clinical studies in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL).
For further company information see
www.santaris.com