Ligand taps Apeiron for a new royalty stream

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has become a $1.5bn market cap company largely based on royalties generated by other developers, and yesterday it brought in fresh blood by purchasing Apeiron. The $100m up-front fee seems high given that Apeiron’s sole approved product is the Recordati-partnered Qarziba, marketed in the EU for the niche use of neuroblastoma. Recordati said in May that it was discussing a US filing with the FDA. The drug has a convoluted history, with Apeiron licensing it from academia in 2011, then in 2016 licensing it to EUSA Pharma, which was acquired by Recordati in 2022. While Qarziba is a sure thing for Ligand, the group will also invest up to $4m in inVIOs, into which Apeiron span off its novel projects in 2022. The inVIOs pipeline is much riskier, featuring phase 1 and preclinical modified peripheral blood mononuclear cells and TILs. A look at Ligand’s oncology portfolio mirrors this approach, with some relatively safe bets among longer shots. The group is no doubt benefiting from some companies’ desperation for cash in the current torrid financing climate; Agenus recently mortgaged various projects to Ligand to fund a phase 3 trial of its big hope, botensilimab plus balstilimab.

Ligand’s oncology royalty portfolio

Source: OncologyPipeline & company website.