Santaris Pharma A/S was a biopharmaceutical company founded in 2003 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The company also had a branch in San Diego, California that opened in 2009. Created by a merger between Cureon and Pantheco, Santaris developed RNA-targeted medicines using a Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) Drug Platform and Drug Development Engine. Santaris had gained the worldwide intellectual property rights to the therapeutic applications of locked nucleic acid (LNA) technology. These rights included ownership of over 60 patent types, which ranged from the chemistry to manufacturing and from therapeutic uses to drug design. With its LNA technology, Santaris developed drugs for a range of diseases using microRNA and mRNA. Its research focused on infectious disease and metabolic disorders. The company also worked on collaborations with pharmaceuticals to develop drugs that could treat cancers and rare genetic disorders, among other things. In August 2014, Santaris was acquired by Roche for $450 million. As a result, the Copenhagen site was renamed the Roche Innovation Center Copenhagen (RICC). RICC houses Roche's RNA Molecule Research, which is part of Roche Pharma Research and Early Development. Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA) drug platform Santaris developed LNA-based drugs to identify and design drug candidates. LNA is a modification of RNA, containing an oxymethylene bridge between the 2’ oxygen and 4’ carbon in the ribose ring. This bridge forms a bi-cyclic structure that locks the ribose conformation and is integral to the high stability and affinity of the LNA to its complementary RNA sequence. Santaris designed LNA oligonucleotides as antisense therapeutics to complement specific mRNA and microRNA sequences. Binding of the oligonucleotide to the target creates a stretch of dsRNA, which prevents translation. LNA oligonucleotides are shorter than other antisense drugs, which allows them a higher target affinity and potency than regular RNA oligonucleotides. LNA drugs are novel therapeutic agents because of their resistance to endonuclease activity. They do not need complicated drug delivery vehicles, their manufacturing is scalable and cost-effective, they are well tolerated, and there is potential for oral delivery. Drug candidates Cancer drug candidates Santaris Pharma A/S had two novel drug candidates for the treatment of solid tumors and lymphomas, EZN-2968 and EZN-3042. EZN-2968 is an inhibitor of a transcription factor, HIF-1α, that is involved in cells ability to undergo angiogenesis and other processes needed for cell survival. EZN-3042 is also an inhibitor, which acts against Survivin. Santaris partnered with Enzon Pharmaceuticals for the development of