MVA-member Santaris Pharma awarded Entrepreneur of the Year

Santaris Pharma was yesterday evening awarded as Entrepreneur of the Year. Around 750 delegates at the Ernst & Young ceremony in Bella Center in Copenhagen applauded CFO Henrik Stage and CSO Henrik Ørum when they received the prize in the biotech category.

"A tremendous technological platform with potential to create crucial results within the production of new cancer therapeutics", said Søren Carlsen, Managing Partner of Novo A/S, and Eva Steiness, CEO of Zealand Pharma, when they presented the prize and the jury decision.

2006 has been very successful to Santaris Pharma. In March, the company raised EUR 40 Mio.in new equity – the second largest private placement in the Medicon Valley history. In July, Santaris Pharma and Enzon announced that they signed a global collaboration agreement to develop novel cancer therapeutics. The deal has a potential of EUR 160 Mio. In October, Santaris Pharma was strengthened by the appointment of Claus Bræstrup, CEO of H. Lundbeck, to the Board of Directors.

Santaris Pharma was founded in 2003 as a merger between Pantheco and Cureon and the lead product SPC2996 has entered phase I/II trials (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia). The two other biotech nominees for the Entrepreneur of the Year were Borean Pharma from Århus and Astion Pharma from Copenhagen.

Source: Medicon Valley Academy, November 24 2006

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