Replies to post #96149 on Biotech Values

[ilpapa]

There was discussion initiated by Biotech Jim on the SI Valuation thread on 2/10/10. Nothing that might be called significant DD, though.

[mcbio]

LGND - acquires milestone/royalty interest in AZN IL-9 program

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ligand-Acquired-Milestone-and-bw-2253315535.html?x=0&.v=1

Ligand Acquired Milestone and Royalty Interest in AstraZeneca IL-9 Program for Asthma

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: LGND - News) announced today that it has purchased from the Genaera Liquidating Trust certain intellectual property and interests in future milestones and royalties for MEDI-528, an IL-9 antibody program under development by AstraZeneca’s subsidiary, MedImmune. MEDI-528 is currently in a 320-patient Phase II study for moderate-to-severe asthma.

Ligand paid $2.75 million to the Genaera Liquidating Trust in connection with the purchase. This opportunity arose from initial diligence and work conducted by Biotechnology Value Fund, L.P. (BVF). As part of this transaction and a result of BVF's contributions, Ligand entered into a separate agreement with BVF and certain of its affiliates, whereby BVF and Ligand will share the purchase price and any proceeds from the deal equally. Accordingly, BVF has paid Ligand $1.375 million.

"We believe the IL-9 antibody program could provide a significant revenue stream, if MedImmune’s development and commercialization efforts are successful, as it is potentially a blockbuster drug being developed by a premier pharmaceutical company," said John L. Higgins, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ligand Pharmaceuticals. “This unique transaction is in alignment with Ligand’s business model in that it adds another possible lucrative royalty stream from what we believe is a high-quality asset. Ligand is committed to constantly exploring and executing business arrangements that deliver long-term value to our shareholders. We are pleased BVF chose to partner with Ligand and recognized the value we added to the transaction."

About MEDI-528

MEDI-528 is a humanized antibody targeting IL-9, which is a member of a family of inflammatory signaling molecules known as interleukins. Several of these interleukin molecules, including IL-9, are thought to play an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma. MEDI-528 is an example of a new generation of asthma medicines designed to target underlying interleukin signaling pathways. IL-9 is thought to be an especially attractive target because it has been demonstrated to be one of the early initiators of multiple interleukin signaling events, making its inhibition with MEDI-528 potentially broad in its impact on asthma symptoms. The treatment needs of moderate-to-severe asthmatics create a multi-billion dollar market as of today with new therapeutic options in high demand. MEDI-528 was originally identified by the Genaera Corporation and then licensed to MedImmune in 2001. After AstraZeneca’s acquisition of MedImmune in 2007, AstraZeneca continued to support this program by initiating a 320-patient Phase II study in 2009 for MEDI-528.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Ligand discovers and develops new drugs that address critical unmet medical needs of patients for a broad spectrum of diseases including hepatitis, muscle wasting, Alzheimer's, inflammatory diseases, anemia, COPD, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis. Ligand's proprietary drug discovery and development programs are based on advanced cell-based assays, gene-expression tools, ultra-high throughput screening and one of the world's largest combinatorial chemical libraries. Ligand has strategic alliances with major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Pfizer, Roche, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Cephalon and more than 30 programs are in various stages of development by its partners.

[mcbio]

Re: LGND

Anyone done any significant DD on the company? mcbio I noticed you have a few posts but no readme . I saw Dew's post and saw they are near their 52 week low and they are applying a royalty model... two things I like that got me interested to start doing some DD on them. Anyone have any thoughts are there some red flags that I'll discovered that someone knows which would save me the time .

No, no RMF for LGND. I only got into the name due to being a former PCOP long, which LGND acquired for peanuts. LGND likes to do deals, that's for sure. I would like to see a nice chart of all the deals they've entered into and the potential milestones/royalties they could receive over the longer-term. In the somewhat recent past, LGND has done deals with PCOP, MBRX, and NRGN. Just today, there was the deal with AZN to gain an interest in future milestones/royalties arising out of AZN's IL-9 program.

I think it's reasonably safe to assume that the wide range of deals in which they have some interest in helps provide a nice floor to the roughly $170M market cap. The question is whether or not any of these drugs will be blockbusters and generate material revenue for LGND down the road. Note that Promacta was supposed to be a blockbuster, but so far has not lived up to the hype. I imagine that the recent halt of certain Promacta studies (#msg-50108321 ) is not going to do any good on that front. All told, I think it's to some degree a relatively safe pick, but I'm not 100% sold on the upside at this point. I'd need to get a better grasp on all the drugs in which they have some stake and get some more visibility on them.