Ligand Acquires Rights to More Than 15 Fully-Funded Development Programs from Selexis SA
Ligand’s Portfolio of Fully-Funded Partnered Assets Now Exceeds 120
SAN DIEGO--
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: LGND) has acquired a
portfolio of potential future milestone and royalty payments for more
than 15 biologic development programs from Selexis SA for $4 million in
cash. Highlights of the transaction include the following:
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The basis for the development programs and economic rights is a
proprietary technology for manufacturing stable and high performing
mammalian cell lines for biologic therapeutics
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The acquired assets include a mix of novel biologics and biosimilars
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The programs are in various stages of development ranging from
preclinical through Phase 3
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Each acquired program is fully funded by a development partner
In April 2013 Ligand acquired a separate portfolio of more than 15
programs from Selexis. Since that time many of the portfolio programs
have advanced through the development process and Ligand has already
received milestone payments amounting to nearly 10% of the acquisition
price paid.
“This is an efficient transaction that bolts on potentially lucrative
economic rights to numerous new programs and follows the positive
developments and successes we have realized with the our first
transaction with Selexis,” said John Higgins, Chief Executive Officer of
Ligand. “This deal significantly expands Ligand’s already robust
portfolio, which now exceeds 120 fully-funded assets. Importantly, it
also diversifies our portfolio by increasing our number of partners to
over 70 and further expands our potential biologics and biosimilars
income streams. Biologics continue to be major revenue drivers and
biosimilars, in particular, have enjoyed recent regulatory success and
are becoming increasingly important to the pharmaceutical industry.”
Higgins continued, “The acquired rights are a great fit with our
royalty-based business model, and the deal does not require operational
integration or ongoing technical responsibilities from Ligand. We
believe this acquisition reinforces the strength of our shots-on-goal
strategy and has the potential to provide Ligand with numerous new
drivers of long-term growth.”
About Selexis SA
Geneva, Switzerland-based Selexis is a privately-held global life
science company focused on drug discovery for lead identification and
cell line development for scale-up and manufacturing of therapeutic
protein drugs.
About Ligand Pharmaceuticals
Ligand is a biopharmaceutical company with a business model focused on
developing or acquiring royalty generating assets and coupling them with
a lean corporate cost structure. Ligand’s goal is to produce a bottom
line that supports a sustainably profitable business. By diversifying
the portfolio of assets across numerous technology types, therapeutic
areas, drug targets and industry partners, we offer investors an
opportunity to invest in the increasingly complicated and unpredictable
pharmaceutical industry. In comparison to its peers, we believe Ligand
has assembled one of the largest and most diversified asset portfolios
in the industry with the potential to generate revenue in the future.
These therapies seek to address the unmet medical needs of patients for
a broad spectrum of diseases including diabetes, hepatitis, muscle
wasting, Alzheimer’s disease, dyslipidemia, anemia, asthma and
osteoporosis. Ligand’s Captisol® platform technology is a
patent-protected, chemically modified cyclodextrin with a structure
designed to optimize the solubility and stability of drugs. Ligand has
established multiple alliances with the world's leading pharmaceutical
companies including Novartis, Amgen, Merck, Pfizer, Baxter International
and Eli Lilly.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements by Ligand that
involve risks and uncertainties and reflect Ligand's judgment as of the
date of this release. These forward-looking statements include comments
regarding the potential (for utility or benefits to patients, for
regulatory approval and for successful commercial marketability) of
Selexis’ development partners’ selected development programs, for which
Ligand has acquired the royalty and milestone payment streams, and
regarding the usefulness of Selexis’ technology for the clinical and
commercial development of such programs. Actual events or results may
differ from Ligand's expectations. For example, there can be no
assurance that trials or evaluations of these biologic therapeutics will
be favorable or that they will confirm results of previous studies, that
data evaluation will be completed or demonstrate any hypothesis or
endpoint, that these biologic therapeutics will provide utility or
benefits to certain patients, that any presentations will be favorably
received, that marketing applications will be filed or, if filed,
approved, or that clinical or commercial development of these biologic
therapeutics will be initiated, completed or successful or that our
rights relating to income streams from these biologic therapeutics will
not be successfully challenged. The same risks apply to the other
programs which comprise Ligand’s shots-on-goal portfolio. The failure to
meet expectations with respect to any of the foregoing matters may
reduce Ligand's stock price. Additional information concerning these and
other important risk factors affecting Ligand (including Ligand’s
current reliance on revenues based on sales of Promacta® and Kyprolis®,
and various risks to which Ligand’s Captisol® cyclodextrin operations
are subject) can be found in Ligand's prior press releases available at www.ligand.com
as well as in Ligand's public periodic filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (including its Form 10-K filed on February 23,
2015), available at www.sec.gov.
Ligand disclaims any intent or obligation to update these
forward-looking statements beyond the date of this press release. This
caution is made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated
Todd Pettingill, 858-550-7500
investors@ligand.com
or
LHA
Bruce
Voss, 310-691-7100
bvoss@lhai.com
Source: Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated
Released May 11, 2015