Ligand Acquires Rights to More Than 15 Development Programs from Selexis SA

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated

has acquired a portfolio of potential future milestone and royalty payments for more than 15 biologic development programs from Selexis SA for $4 million in cash. Highlights of the transaction include the following: The basis for the development programs and economic rights is a proprietary technology for manufacturing stable and high performing mammalian cell lines for biologic therapeutics The acquired assets include a mix of novel biologics and biosimilars The programs are in various stages of development ranging from preclinical through Phase 3 Each acquired program is fully funded by a development partner In April 2013 Ligand acquired a separate portfolio of more than 15 programs from Selexis. Since that time many of the portfolio programs have advanced through the development process and Ligand has already received milestone payments amounting to nearly 10% of the acquisition price paid. "This is an efficient transaction that bolts on potentially lucrative economic rights to numerous new programs and follows the positive developments and successes we have realized with the our first transaction with Selexis," said John Higgins, Chief Executive Officer of Ligand. "This deal significantly expands Ligand's already robust portfolio, which now exceeds 120 fully-funded assets. Importantly, it also diversifies our portfolio by increasing our number of partners to over 70 and further expands our potential biologics and biosimilars income streams. Biologics continue to be major revenue drivers and biosimilars, in particular, have enjoyed recent regulatory success and are becoming increasingly important to the pharmaceutical industry." Higgins continued, "The acquired rights are a great fit with our royalty-based business model, and the deal does not require operational integration or ongoing technical responsibilities from Ligand. We believe this acquisition reinforces the strength of our shots-on-goal strategy and has the potential to provide Ligand with numerous new drivers of long-term growth."