Ligand is expected to receive an upfront payment and continue to be entitled to receive potential future milestone and royalty payments.
Ligand Pharma president and CEO John Higgins said that the agreement with Proximagen partially monetises a program acquired in their 2008 acquisition of Pharmacopeia, and restarts another research collaboration with significant commercial potential in Ligand’s portfolio of fully funded and royalty-bearing programs.
Ligand said that the transfer of exclusive rights was made under a 2004 drug discovery alliance entered between Pharmacopeia and Swedish Orphan Biovitrum as per which Pharmacopeia’s compound library was accessed to identify and optimise leads.