Court Focuses Patent Suit on Santaris's Safe Harbor Defense

Court Focuses Patent Suit on Santaris's Safe Harbor Defense PR Newswire HOERSHOLM, Denmark and SAN DIEGO, Sept. 24, 2012 HOERSHOLM, Denmark and SAN DIEGO, Sept. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Santaris Pharma A/S, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies, today announced that the federal court in the Southern District of California granted Santaris significant relief in the patent infringement lawsuit brought by Isis. The Court stayed all discovery in the case except for discovery specifically related to the Safe Harbor issue raised by Santaris's motion for summary judgment to dismiss the complaint. In that motion, Santaris showed that its accused activities -- which use cutting-edge LNA antisense technology -- all relate to drug design and development work that are protected by the statutory safe harbor. The stay ordered by the Court came on the heels of its decision holding that it could not find, as a matter of law, that Santaris's accused activities were protected by the Safe Harbor based on the limited record that existed at the time Santaris brought its motion, but that Santaris could renew its motion following a 120-day period of limited discovery directed to the Safe Harbor issue. Henrik Stage, CEO of Santaris stated: "We are pleased that the Court recognized that the Safe Harbor issue can dispose of the case in its entirety, and that the Court narrowed discovery to that issue alone.