Santaris Pharma A/S is getting $10 million up front and could earn up to $90 million more in per-product milestones from a multiproduct drug discovery alliance with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., based on its Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) antisense technology.

It also will receive research funding and royalties on eventual product sales. New York-based BMS will hold worldwide rights to whatever products emerge from the alliance. The targets involved were not disclosed; nor was the therapeutic focus of the collaboration.

The deal is the sixth drug discovery alliance in which Santaris is involved. Its other partners include New York-based Pfizer Inc.; Dublin, Ireland-based Shire plc; London-based GlaxoSmithKline plc; Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Piscataway, N.J.; and miRagen Therapeutics, Inc., of Boulder, Colo.

Santaris has long maintained the superiority of LNAs to other DNA analogue chemistries in terms of affinity, specificity and biostability.

It also claims size advantages over double-stranded siRNA-based approaches, and it has touted the fact that LNA remains the only chemistry currently in the clinic to target both miRNA and mRNA.

Its lead drug candidate, miravirsen (SPC3649), which targets the microRNA miR-122, completed a high-profile Phase II trial in hepatitis C virus infection recently – the data were reported online in the New England Journal of Medicine March 27 in a paper, titled "Treatment of HCV Infection by Targeting MicroRNA."

The company's freedom to operate in that area is contested, however, as Regulus Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, claimed its patents provide it with broad coverage on the use of anti-miR-122 therapeutic agents, a claim Santaris is challenging.

Four other programs also are in the clinic. Enzon has U.S. rights to three of them, the cancer compounds EZN-2968, EZN-3042 and EZN-4176, which target hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1α), survivin and androgen receptor, respectively.

Getting the technology to this point of maturity has entailed a lengthy development process, however. Santaris was formed in 2003 via the merger of two Danish firms, Cureon and Pantheco. Cureon was itself spun out in 2000 from Vedbaek, Denmark-based Exiqon A/S to develop therapeutic applications of LNA, while its parent firm focused on diagnostics.

Santaris officials were not available for comment Tuesday.