Lundbeck and Contera Pharma announce research collaboration to advance RNA-targeting medicines for serious neurological conditions

Valby, Denmark, 20 October 2025 – H. Lundbeck A/S (Lundbeck) and Contera Pharma today announced a strategic research collaboration aiming to accelerate the discovery and development of innovative oligonucleotide-based medicines for patients living with serious neurological conditions, where significant unmet medical needs remain.

Together, the companies will explore novel RNA-targeting treatment approaches designed to deliver transformative benefits for patients worldwide. The partnership will leverage Lundbeck's more than 70 years of neuroscience experience and Contera Pharma’s oligonucleotide expertise and pioneering proprietary RNA discovery platforms, including AttackPoint discovery®, OligoDisc®, and SpliceMatrix®. 
 

Driving future therapies through external innovation

The partnership reflects Lundbeck’s long-term strategy to strengthen its pipeline both internally and through external collaborations with scientific innovators. By incorporating RNA therapeutics into its research portfolio, Lundbeck will broaden its capabilities and ensure it remains at the forefront of innovation in brain health. Targeting RNA could prove particularly valuable for further building Lundbeck’s research pipeline of medicines treating neurodegeneration.

Tarek Samad, Senior Vice President and Head of Research at Lundbeck, said: “Partnering with Contera provides us with the opportunity to expand our pipeline with RNA-targeting candidates that can result in entirely new treatments. The collaboration perfectly supports our aim to deliver therapies for patients with serious neurological conditions where few or no options exist today.”

Klaus Simonsen, Vice President and Head of External Research and Innovation at Lundbeck, emphasized the importance of external partnerships: “Early research partnering is a cornerstone of our strategy to systematically build a highly networked ecosystem of leading neuroscience and technology innovators. By embracing RNA therapeutics through our collaboration with Contera, we are strengthening our pipeline and ensuring that we remain at the cutting edge of scientific progress in brain health.”
 

Harnessing RNA platforms to accelerate breakthroughs

Contera Pharma will apply its specialized RNA discovery platforms and expertise to identify and optimize novel therapies targeting molecular targets with the potential to modify disease progression. Through the collaboration, Lundbeck retains the option to advance these promising candidates into later-stage clinical development and global commercialization, ensuring that innovative discoveries can ultimately reach patients at scale. Under the terms of the agreement, Contera Pharma will receive an upfront payment and full research funding for each target. The company will also be eligible for milestone payments tied to pre-clinical, clinical, regulatory, and commercial achievements, along with tiered royalties on future net sales of any resulting products. 

Søren Vestergaard Rasmussen, Chief Scientific Officer of Contera Pharma, highlighted the strength of the company’s platforms: “This collaboration highlights the strength of our RNA platform and our ability to translate cutting-edge science into transformative therapies. We are very excited to embark on this partnership and look forward to working closely with Lundbeck.”

Thomas Sager, Chief Executive Officer of Contera Pharma, added: “This agreement validates our RNA discovery engine and will accelerate our mission to deliver innovative medicines to patients with high unmet needs. By joining forces with Lundbeck, we can create strong synergies and advance the potential of oligonucleotide therapeutics.”
 

About Contera Pharma

Contera Pharma is a clinical-stage biotech company based in Copenhagen. By leveraging its proprietary AttackPoint discovery®, OligoDisc®, and SpliceMatrix® discovery platforms, Contera develops oligonucleotide-based medicines and small-molecule RNA modulators designed to precisely modulate RNA function. The company’s mission is to pioneer RNA innovation and deliver transformative therapies to patients worldwide. More information can be found at www.conterapharma.com.

About H. Lundbeck A/S

Lundbeck is a biopharmaceutical company focusing exclusively on brain health. With more than 70 years of experience in neuroscience, we are committed to improving the lives of people with neurological and psychiatric diseases.

Brain disorders affect a large part of the world’s population, and the effects are felt throughout society. With the rapidly improving understanding of the biology of the brain, we hold ourselves accountable for advancing brain health by curiously exploring new opportunities for treatments.

As a focused innovator, we strive for our research and development programs to tackle some of the most complex neurological challenges. We develop transformative medicines targeting people for whom there are few or no treatments available, expanding into neuro-specialty and neuro-rare from our strong legacy within psychiatry and neurology.

We are committed to fighting stigma and we act to improve health equity. We strive to create long term value for our shareholders by making a positive contribution to patients, their families and society as a whole.

Lundbeck has approximately 5,700 employees in more than 50 countries and our products are available in more than 80 countries. For additional information, we encourage you to visit our corporate site www.lundbeck.com and connect with us via LinkedIn.
 

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