Ligand Collaborates With GSK To Target Neurological Disorder; To Receive Up To $161 Mln Payment

(RTTNews) - Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s (LGND) subsidiary Icagen and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK, GSK.L) have reached a global collaboration and license agreement leveraging Icagen's discovery technology to target neurological disorder.

As per the terms of deal, Ligand will receive an upfront payment of $7 million. Ligand could receive additional development, regulatory and commercialization milestone payments, conditional on meeting those milestones, of up to $154.5 million.

Ligand will receive tiered royalties on net sales of any drug from the collaboration that is commercialized by GSK.

Ligand will be responsible for most preclinical activities up to lead optimization, with Ligand and GSK collaborating to identify candidates for entry into IND-enabling studies.

GSK has the exclusive option to license any identified inhibitors and will be responsible for the further development and commercialization of any drug candidates identified through the collaboration.