Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:LGND) announced it has entered into a worldwide license agreement with drug discovery company xCella Biosciences, Inc. under which xCella will use the former’s OmniAb platform for the discovery of fully human mono- and bispecific antibodies.
Note that OmniAb includes three transgenic animal platforms – OmniRat, OmniMouse and OmniFlic – for producing mono- and bispecific human therapeutic antibodies.
Per the agreement, xCella will be responsible for all costs related to the programs. On the other hand, Ligand will be eligible to receive annual platform access payments, development and regulatory milestone payments as well as royalties for each product incorporating an OmniAb antibody.
Ligand’s shares have gained 7.4% year to date against the Zacks classified Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry’s decline of 1.1%.
Moreover, we remind investors that OmniAb, an antibody-generating platform, became part of Ligand’s technology portfolio following its Jan 2016 acquisition of OMT, Inc.
Ligand is focused on the development and licensing of biopharmaceutical assets. Ligand’s Captisol formulation technology has allowed it to enter into several licensing deals and generate royalties. Captisol is a well validated chemically modified cyclodextrin that is designed to improve safety and solubility, stability, and bioavailability or lessen the volatility, irritation, smell or taste of drugs.
Other technology platforms at Ligand include LTP technology and Selexis technology. All these technologies including Captisol and OmniAb have created a strong platform for Ligand to seek new licenses and partnerships.
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price
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Zacks Rank and Key Picks
Ligand carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Some better ranked stocks in the health care sector include VIVUS, Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS) , MEI Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEIP) and Aeglea BioTherapeutics (NASDAQ:AGLE) . While VIVUS and MEI Pharma sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Aeglea carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
VIVUS’ loss per share estimates narrowed from 50 cents to 39 cents for 2017 over the last 30 days. The company posted positive earnings surprises in all four trailing quarters, with an average beat of 233.69%.
MEI Pharma’s estimates narrowed from loss per share of 1 cent to gain per share of 1 cent for 2017 over the last 30 days. The company posted positive earnings surprises in three of the four trailing quarters, with an average beat of 66.56%.
Aeglea’s loss per share estimates narrowed from $3.64 to $2.48 for 2017 over the last 60 days. The company posted positive earnings surprises in three of the four trailing quarters, with an average beat of 20.75%.
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