Ligand Enters into Platform Captisol License and Supply Agreements with Lilly; Terms Not Disclosed

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated LGND announced today that it has entered into platform Captisol® license and supply agreements with Eli Lilly and Company LLY in undisclosed therapeutic areas. During the collaboration, Lilly will be permitted to nominate an unlimited number of drug candidates from its internal pipeline for Captisol formulation. Ligand will provide clinical supplies of Captisol, and may ultimately supply commercial quantities of Captisol to Lilly if a product should be successfully commercialized. Under the terms of the agreement, Ligand will receive a $1 million upfront payment. Other financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. “Ligand is extremely pleased to have Lilly on our roster of high quality partners utilizing the Captisol technology,” said Matt Foehr, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Ligand Pharmaceuticals. “The structure of this expanded platform relationship was designed to easily enable Lilly to bring as many molecules into the collaboration as possible, potentially allowing Ligand to significantly expand its partnered asset portfolio with a very high quality partner.”