Ligand acquires Vernalis at bargain price of $43M; Pfizer, Novo back $60M round for dwarfism biotech
→ Five months after a beleaguered Vernalis (LSE: $VER) decided to sell itself in the aftermath of back-to-back FDA rejections, the biotech has found a buyer in San Diego-based Ligand Pharmaceuticals $LGND, which is paying $43 million to get their hands on eight partnered programs and an operation in the UK.
Having built a business model heavily reliant on partnerships, Vernalis’ programs — with partners such as Servier, Lundbeck and Daiichi Sankyo — remain in progress and “fully-funded” despite setbacks in a pair of cold meds, developed with Tris Pharma. Like Ligand, Vernalis has a diverse portfolio than spans respiratory, oncology and central nervous system diseases. Taking around $4 million in deal costs into account, Ligand expects to gain $32 million of net cash from the transaction.
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