Ligand Enters into Worldwide OmniAb® Platform License Agreement with Surface Oncology
June 01 2017 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: LGND)
announces it has entered into a worldwide license agreement with
Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Surface Oncology. Under the license,
Surface will be able to use the OmniRat®, OmniMouse® and OmniFlic®
platforms to discover fully human mono- and bispecific antibodies.
Ligand is eligible to receive annual platform access payments,
development and regulatory milestone payments, and tiered royalties
for each product incorporating an OmniAb antibody. Surface will be
responsible for all costs related to the programs.
“This agreement allows Surface Oncology to join a growing roster
of companies with access to OmniAb, our novel transgenic rodent
technology that goes beyond a transgenic mouse technology, adding a
transgenic rat and a separate transgenic rat with fixed light chain
antibodies to enable bispecific antibody discovery,” said John
Higgins, Chief Executive Officer of Ligand. “This is the second
OmniAb partnership announced within a week, further demonstrating
the significant partnership interest that exists for this
important, novel technology.”
About Surface Oncology
Surface Oncology is an immuno-oncology company developing
next-generation immunotherapies targeting the tumor
microenvironment. Surface’s novel cancer immunotherapies are
designed to treat tumors that are unresponsive to currently
available therapies, and would be used in combination with
currently available therapies to enhance the overall efficacy of
the treatment. The Company has a pipeline of seven novel
immunotherapies, including programs targeting CD47 and CD73,
supported by a broad strategic collaboration with Novartis focused
on up to four next-generation immunotherapies. Headquartered in
Cambridge, Mass., Surface was founded by Atlas Venture and is also
supported by leading biotechnology venture investors F-Prime
Capital Partners, Lilly Ventures, New Enterprise Associates (NEA)
and Amgen Ventures. For more information, please visit www.surfaceoncology.com.
About OmniAb®
OmniAb includes three transgenic animal platforms for producing
mono- and bispecific human therapeutic antibodies. OmniRat® is the
industry’s first human monoclonal antibody technology based on
rats. It has a complete immune system with a diverse antibody
repertoire and generates antibodies with human idiotypes as
effectively as wild-type animals make rat antibodies. OmniMouse® is
a transgenic mouse that complements OmniRat and expands epitope
coverage. OmniFlic® is an engineered rat with a fixed light chain
for development of bispecific, fully human antibodies. The three
platforms use patented technology, have broad freedom to operate,
and deliver fully human antibodies with high affinity, specificity,
expression, solubility and stability.
About Ligand Pharmaceuticals
Ligand is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing or
acquiring technologies that help pharmaceutical companies discover
and develop medicines. Our business model creates value for
stockholders by providing a diversified portfolio of biotech and
pharmaceutical product revenue streams that are supported by an
efficient and low corporate cost structure. Our goal is to offer
investors an opportunity to participate in the promise of the
biotech industry in a profitable, diversified and lower-risk
business than a typical biotech company. Our business model is
based on doing what we do best: drug discovery, early-stage drug
development, product reformulation and partnering. We partner with
other pharmaceutical companies to leverage what they do best
(late-stage development, regulatory management and
commercialization) to ultimately generate our revenue. Ligand’s
Captisol® platform technology is a patent-protected, chemically
modified cyclodextrin with a structure designed to optimize the
solubility and stability of drugs. OmniAb® is a patent-protected
transgenic animal platform used in the discovery of fully human
mono-and bispecific therapeutic antibodies. Ligand has established
multiple alliances, licenses and other business relationships with
the world's leading pharmaceutical companies including Novartis,
Amgen, Merck, Pfizer, Celgene, Gilead, Janssen, Baxter
International and Eli Lilly.
Follow Ligand on Twitter @Ligand_LGND.
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
include statements regarding Ligand's license agreement with
Surface under which Ligand may receive annual platform access
payments, milestone payments and royalties (which, as used herein
includes royalty-like payments based upon the development and
commercialization of any products based on antibodies discovered
under the license). Actual events or results may differ from our
expectations. For example, there can be no assurances that Surface
will successfully develop or market any antibodies discovered under
the license. 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 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,
available at www.sec.gov. Ligand disclaims any intent or obligation
to update these forward-looking statements beyond the date of this
press release, except as required by law. This caution is made
under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
View source
version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170601005553/en/
Ligand Pharmaceuticals IncorporatedTodd Pettingill, (858)
550-7500investors@ligand.com@Ligand_LGNDorLHABruce Voss, (310)
691-7100bvoss@lhai.com
Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024