San Diego-based Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LGND]]) said today it has agreed to pay $3.2 million to acquire Metabasis (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MBRX]]), the developer of treatments for diabetes and high cholesterol. Ligand has also committed $8 million to finance Metabasis’ drug development programs within the next 42 months. The sale comes after a rough year for Metabasis, in which it ran low on cash, warned investors it might have to shut down, and CEO Mark Erion resigned for a new job at Merck.
Author: Luke Timmerman
Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
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