Business
Ligand Completes Acquisition of Pfenex Inc.
Adds proprietary technology for manufacturing antibodies, enzymes and other protein-based treatments Acquired company expected to increase Ligand’s royalties
About this update from Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated
[{"type":"text","content":"\nAdds proprietary technology for manufacturing antibodies, enzymes and other protein-based treatments\n\nAcquired company expected to increase Ligand’s royalties by 50% annually and to contribute $60 million of total revenue in 2023 \n\n SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nLigand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: LGND) today announced it has completed its tender offer for all outstanding shares of Pfenex Inc. for $437.5 million in cash, plus one non-transferable contingent value right (CVR) per share representing the right to receive a contingent payment of $78 million in cash if a certain specified milestone is achieved. The acquired company will cease trading on the NYSE American under the symbol PFNX effective as of October 1, 2020.\n\n“This is a transformative acquisition that provides a highly valuable technology platform and a portfolio of royalty-bearing collaborations with leading pharmaceutical companies for treatments and vaccines. The business is well established with an attractive growth outlook that is expected to add significantly to Ligand’s financial growth and performance,” said John Higgins, Chief Executive Officer of Ligand. “The expertise we acquired in the expression of complex proteins is highly complementary to Ligand’s industry-leading antibody and drug enabling technologies, which together comprise a comprehensive discovery and early stage platform. We welcome our new colleagues to Ligand and look forward to growing the integrated business with our expanded platform supporting the pharmaceutical industry.”\n\nThe acquired protein expression technology platform is utilized to develop next-generation and novel protein therapeutics to improve existing therapies and create new therapies for biological targets linked to critical, unmet diseases. The proprietary platform uses P. fluorescens bacterium, which are especially well-suited for complex, large-scale protein production that cannot be made by more traditional host systems. The technology can contribute significant value to biopharmaceutical development programs by reducing development timelines and costs for manufacturing human therapeutics and vaccines.\n\nFinancial and Business Highlights\n\n\nThe acquired business is forecasted to generate $30 million of total revenue in 2021 and double that amount, or $60 million, in 2023. Royalties are expected to b...