Ligand Pharma Inc Roche Contingent Value Rights (LGNDZ)

[surf1944]

Ligand Enters into Captisol® Commercial Supply Agreement with Merck
businesswire

Press Release Source: Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated On Monday June 20, 2011, 8:00 am EDT

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND - News) announced today that it has entered into a Captisol® supply agreement with Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK - News) for an undisclosed program. Ligand will supply clinical and commercial supplies of Captisol and, if the program is approved for commercialization, expects to deliver multiple metric tons of Captisol annually. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We are extremely pleased to enter into a long-term commercial supply agreement for this Captisol-enabled program,” said Matt Foehr, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Ligand Pharmaceuticals. “This collaboration with Merck is a good example of the type of relationships we try to build with our partners. Merck used Captisol to reformulate a drug in their portfolio and performed initial proof of concept under a research use agreement.”

“This announcement marks the natural transition of the program to a full commercial supply relationship as commercialization approaches,” added Mr. Foehr. “This deal has the potential to add meaningful revenue to the Ligand business in the coming years and extends the already significant partnering relationship that we have developed with Merck over the past few years.”

About Captisol®

Captisol is a patent protected, chemically modified cyclodextrin with a structure designed to optimize the solubility and stability of drugs. This unique technology was originally developed by Ligand’s subsidiary company CyDex Pharmaceuticals and has enabled five FDA approved products, including Pfizer’s VFEND® IV and Prism Pharmaceuticals’ NEXTERONE®. There are currently over twenty Captisol-enabled® products in development, including Onyx pharmaceuticals’ carfilzomib program.