San Diego-based Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LGND]]) said today it has earned a $6.5 million milestone payment from Switzerland-based Roche in connection with the advancement of a hepatitis C drug candidate into clinical trials. The product, RG7348, was the subject of a collaboration in 2008 between Roche and Metabasis Therapeutics, which Ligand acquired in January. Ligand will keep $2.3 million of the new milestone, pay about $2.7 million to former Metabasis shareholders who were issued a “contingent value right” to milestones from Roche, and use the rest to cover pre-existing contractual obligations.
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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