Ligand Enters into Platform Captisol License Agreement with SAGE Therapeutics

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated LGND announced today that it has entered into a Captisol license agreement with SAGE Therapeutics, Inc. for the development and commercialization of Captisol-enabled® therapeutics for a broad range of debilitating central nervous system conditions. Under the agreement, Ligand will receive upfront and research support payments, as well as potential milestone payments for Captisol-enabled programs. In addition to potentially receiving royalties on net sales for products that use the Captisol technology, Ligand will receive revenue from the sale of Captisol to Sage for clinical and commercial activities. While the treatment of CNS diseases has long been viewed as a challenging and largely underserved space in drug development, SAGE Therapeutics' proprietary Positive and Negative Allosteric Modulator (PANAM) chemistry platform combined with Ligand's Captisol technology may enable the rapid development of allosteric receptor modulators that target these critical pathways to fine tune and balance the neuronal activity that is disrupted in CNS disorders. Studies have shown that Ligand's Captisol technology is particularly adept at solubilizing this class of molecules and opens up the potential for the Captisol-enabled treatment of various CNS conditions.