Lig­and buys its way in­to part­ner­ship with Roche, CF Foun­da­tion — plus some ion chan­nel tech once owned by Pfiz­er

Lig­and Phar­ma is once again buy­ing its way in­to col­lab­o­ra­tions with some high-pro­file part­ners, feed­ing eight more drug dis­cov­ery pro­grams in­to its pipeline at a bar­gain price.

Its lat­est ac­qui­si­tion tar­get is the core as­sets of Ica­gen, a neu­ro­science and rare dis­ease-fo­cused play­er head­quar­tered in Durham, North Car­oli­na. For $15 mil­lion up­front, Lig­and is bag­ging one neu­ro­log­i­cal pro­gram part­nered with Roche, a cys­tic fi­bro­sis project backed by the CF Foun­da­tion, as well as six whol­ly-owned as­sets.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER