Ligand Signs $4.5-Million Agreement With Omthera Pharmaceuticals

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated recently announced it has entered into a licensing agreement and research collaboration with Omthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca plc, for the development of products to treat dyslipidemia, including hypertriglyceridemia. The research collaboration will target the development of novel products that utilize the proprietary Ligand-developed LTP TECHNOLOGY to improve lipid-lowering activity of certain omega-3 fatty acids.

“This collaboration, our first with Ligand’s newest platform technology, holds powerful potential. Ligand’s proprietary LTP TECHNOLOGY and our rich history and vast knowledge in molecule discovery, design, and targeting combine very well with Omthera’s expertise in the clinical development of new therapies for lipid disorders,” said John Higgins, Ligand’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “With Omthera, we are partnering with an organization that is highly capable of developing and commercializing drug products with our LTP TECHNOLOGY to reach the estimated hundreds of millions people world-wide suffering from dyslipidemia-related diseases.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Ligand will be eligible to receive payments of up to $44.5 million upon the achievement of specific milestones, as well as tiered royalties ranging from mid to high single digits of net sales. Omthera is solely responsible for all research and clinical development costs as well as commercialization of any product(s) derived from this collaboration.

Ligand’s LTP TECHNOLOGY is a broadened novel prodrug technology platform designed to selectively deliver a range of active pharmaceutical agents to the liver. It works by chemically modifying a biologically active molecule into an inactive prodrug form that will be administered and later activated in the liver by certain enzymes mainly expressed in the liver. The technology can be used to improve activity and/or safety of an existing drug or to develop new agents to treat liver diseases or diseases caused by homeostasis imbalance of circulating biomolecules controlled by the liver, such as lipids and glucose, and is especially applicable to metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Ligand’s LTP TECHNOLOGY has expanded chemical class applicability and also removes certain by-products as compared to other targeting technologies.

Omthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an emerging specialty pharmaceuticals company focusing its efforts on the clinical development of new therapies for dyslipidemia. Led by a team of experts with exceptional experience in developing new therapies for lipid disorders, Omthera is dedicated to developing innovative therapies for the millions of patients who have elevated triglyceride levels and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. AstraZeneca acquired Omthera Pharmaceuticals in July 2013.

Ligand is a biopharmaceutical company with a business model that is based upon the concept of developing or acquiring royalty revenue generating assets and coupling them to a lean corporate cost structure. Ligand’s goal is to produce a bottom line that supports a sustainably profitable business. By diversifying its portfolio of assets across numerous technology types, therapeutic areas, drug targets, and industry partners, the company offers investors an opportunity to invest in the increasingly complicated and unpredictable pharmaceutical industry. 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 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 GlaxoSmithKline, Onyx Pharmaceuticals (a subsidiary of Amgen Inc.), Merck, Pfizer, Baxter International, Eli Lilly & Co. and Spectrum Pharmaceuticals. Please visit www.captisol.com for more information on Captisol. For more information, visit www.ligand.com.