Ligand's Captisol Deals Set To Drive Growth In The Long Run

On Sep 26, 2017, we issued an updated report on Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) .

Ligand’s leading Captisol formulation technology platform has allowed it to enter into partnerships with several leading drug companies like Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) , Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) and Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) , thus in turn providing it with funds in the form of milestone and royalty payments.

Ligand receives royalties and milestone payments for several FDA-approved products that use its Captisol technology. Ligand’s major royalty revenues comes from sales of two key partnered assets — Novartis’ Kyprolis and Amgen’s Promacta. other latest product approvals include Spectrum’s Evomela, Lundbeck’s Carnexiv and Melinta Therapeutics’ Baxdela. Apart from these, several candidates are in late-stage development and expected to bring in royalties to the company once commercialized.

Regarding the company’s internal pipeline, various candidates are under observation and development for indications like diabetes. One such extremely advanced candidate is LGD-6972, presently undergoing a phase II study for treating type II diabetes. This month, the company reported positive top-line results from the study. It further expects LGD-6972 to bring in future licensing opportunities.

Nonetheless, Ligand’s entry into the Medical Devices Segment with acquisition of multiple programs owned by CorMatrix is also encouraging.

However, Ligand obtains Captisol from a single supplier, Hovione — a major global supplier of active pharmaceutical ingredients and drug product intermediates, located in Portugal. Any interruption in Captisol’s supply would hit the company’s results.

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