Ligand Announces Icagen’s Expansion of Collaboration with Roche to Develop & Commercialize Therapies for Neurological Disea...
May 29 2020 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Collaboration
initiates second Roche program utilizing Icagen’s ion channel drug
discovery platform
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: LGND) and
Icagen, a Ligand Company, announced today the expansion of
Icagen’s license agreement with Roche to develop and commercialize
small molecule ion channel modulators for the treatment of
neurological disorders, by adding a second program to the
agreement. The new program incorporates Icagen’s ion channel
technology and expertise and is directed at a specific novel ion
channel target relevant to neurodegenerative disease. The new
program is in addition to ongoing work on another novel CNS
target.
“Icagen’s collaboration with Roche was a key value-driver in the
acquisition of the Icagen business, and we are very pleased to see
this expansion and extension of the relationship,” said John
Higgins, Chief Executive Officer of Ligand. “This type of deal fits
perfectly within the Ligand strategy to establish and leverage
partnerships with global leaders in the industry as they look to
access our technology for their drug discovery and development
needs. The Icagen team has been a great addition to Ligand’s
business.”
"We are pleased to extend and expand our collaboration with
Roche and its drug discovery team in Basel," said Icagen Site Head
Douglas Krafte, PhD. "Our initial neurology program with Roche
continues to make great progress and we hope to assist Roche in
bringing multiple meaningful therapies to patients in areas of
neurological disease with major unmet needs through both our
initial and this new program."
Terms of Expanded Icagen and Roche Collaboration
Under the terms of the license agreement, Roche made a cash
upfront payment and will provide research funding to Icagen. In
addition, Icagen is eligible to potentially receive development and
commercial milestone payments of up to $274 million and royalty
payments should a drug be commercialized from any of the
collaboration’s programs.
Icagen will be responsible for most preclinical activities up to
lead optimization with both Icagen and Roche applying resources to
identify candidates for entry into IND-enabling studies. Roche will
be responsible for the further development and commercialization of
the program.
About Icagen, a Ligand Company
Icagen, a Ligand Company, is a preclinical drug discovery
company focused on ion channel and transporter drug discovery with
research facilities located in Durham, N.C. Icagen partners with
the pharmaceutical industry to develop first-in-class therapies for
patients in need, typically under arrangements in which we work
closely with our partners through the time of clinical candidate
selection and our partners are responsible for the clinical
development and commercialization. Icagen, a Ligand Company, is a
subsidiary of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated. For more
information, please visit www.ligand.com.
About Ligand Pharmaceuticals
Ligand is a revenue-generating 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
OmniAb® technology platform is a patent-protected transgenic animal
platform used in the discovery of fully human mono- and bispecific
therapeutic antibodies. The Captisol® platform technology is a
patent-protected, chemically modified cyclodextrin with a structure
designed to optimize the solubility and stability of drugs. The
Vernalis Design Platform (VDP) integrates protein structure
determination and engineering, fragment screening and molecular
modeling, with medicinal chemistry, to help enable success in novel
drug discovery programs against highly-challenging targets. Ab
Initio™ technology and services for the design and preparation of
customized antigens enable the successful discovery of therapeutic
antibodies against difficult-to-access cellular targets. Icagen, a
Ligand Company, focuses on ion channel and transporter drug
discovery as it partners with the pharmaceutical industry to
develop first-in-class therapies for patients in need. Ligand has
established multiple alliances, licenses and other business
relationships with the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies
including Amgen, Merck, Pfizer, Sanofi, Janssen, Takeda, Gilead
Sciences and Baxter International. For more information, please
visit www.ligand.com.
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. Words such as “plans,” “believes,”
“expects,” “anticipates,” and “will,” and similar expressions, are
intended to identify forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements
regarding the potential benefits of the Icagen/Roche license and
collaboration agreement programs. Actual events or results may
differ from Ligand's expectations due to risks and uncertainties
inherent in Ligand’s business, including, without limitation, that
there can be no assurance that either the original or expansion
Roche program with Icagen will be able to successfully identify any
desirable drug candidates or that any drug candidates developed in
such programs would be clinically or commercially successful, all
of which might result in the potential milestone payments and
royalties not being earned. 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 risk
factors affecting Ligand can be found in 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 release,
including the possibility of additional contract revenue we may
receive. This caution is made under the safe harbor provisions of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200529005042/en/
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated Patrick O’Brien
investors@ligand.com (858) 550-7768 @Ligand_LGND
LHA Investor Relations Bruce Voss bvoss@lhai.com (310)
691-7100
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