Ferring enters into worldwide OmniAb® platform license agreement with Ligand

Ferring Pharmaceuticals announced today that it has entered into a worldwide license agreement with Ligand Pharmaceuticals to use Ligand’s OmniAb platform^® to discover new human monoclonal antibodies for a range of indications. Under the agreement, Ferring will use OmniAb to accelerate development solutions for unmet patient needs in reproductive medicine and women’s health, urology and gastroenterology.

“Antibody-based therapies improve the quality of life and care for patients with a wide range of conditions but have not been fully investigated, in particular in the area of reproductive medicine and women’s health,” said Armin Metzger, Senior Vice President, Head of Global Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Ferring Pharmaceuticals. “This agreement expands Ferring’s growing capabilities in biologics and broadens our historical focus on peptides, opening up significant opportunities for discoveries that will help patients to live better lives.”

Ligand's OmniAb^® platforms produce highly diversified, fully human antibody repertoires optimized in vivo (in a living organism) for therapeutic efficacy and reduced immunogenicity.

Ligand is eligible to receive annual platform access payments, development and regulatory milestone payments, and tiered royalties for each product developed by Ferring that incorporates an OmniAb antibody. Specific financial details of this transaction are not disclosed.

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About Ferring Pharmaceuticals:

Ferring Pharmaceuticals is a research-driven, speciality biopharmaceutical group committed to helping people around the world build families and live better lives. Headquartered in Saint-Prex, Switzerland, Ferring is a leader in reproductive medicine and women’s health, and in specialty areas within gastroenterology and urology. Ferring has been developing treatments for mothers and babies for over 50 years. Today, over one third of the company’s research and development investment goes towards finding innovative and personalised healthcare solutions to help mothers and babies, from conception to birth. Founded in 1950, Ferring now employs approximately 7,000 people worldwide, has its own operating subsidiaries in nearly 60 countries and markets its products in 110 countries. For further information, visit www.ferring.com.

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About OmniAb ^®

OmniAb is a three-species transgenic-animal platform consisting of four different technologies used for producing mono- and bispecific human therapeutic antibodies. OmniRat^® is the industry’s first human monoclonal antibody technology based on rats. It has a complete immune system with a diverse antibody repertoire and generates antibodies with human idiotypes as effectively as wild-type animals make rat antibodies. OmniMouse^® is a transgenic mouse that complements OmniRat and expands epitope coverage. OmniFlic^® is an engineered rat with a fixed light chain for development of bispecific, fully human antibodies. OmniChicken™ is the industry’s first human monoclonal antibody technology based on chickens. The four technologies use patented technology, have broad freedom to operate and deliver fully human antibodies with high affinity, specificity, expression, solubility and stability.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Ligand is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing or acquiring technologies that help pharmaceutical companies discover and develop medicines. Our business model creates value for stockholders by providing a diversified portfolio of biotech and pharmaceutical product revenue streams that are supported by an efficient and low corporate cost structure. Our goal is to offer investors an opportunity to participate in the promise of the biotech industry in a profitable, diversified and lower-risk business than a typical biotech company. Our business model is based on doing what we do best: drug discovery, early-stage drug development, product reformulation and partnering. We partner with other pharmaceutical companies to leverage what they do best (late-stage development, regulatory management and commercialization) to ultimately generate our revenue. Ligand’s Captisol^® platform technology is a patent-protected, chemically modified cyclodextrin with a structure designed to optimize the solubility and stability of drugs. OmniAb^® is a patent-protected transgenic animal platform used in the discovery of fully human mono-and bispecific therapeutic antibodies. Ligand has established multiple alliances, licenses and other business relationships with the world's leading pharmaceutical companies including Novartis, Amgen, Merck, Pfizer, Celgene, Gilead, Janssen, Baxter International and Eli Lilly.

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Contact information

Ferring Corporate Communications Team:
Lindsey Rodger
Senior Manager, Corporate Communications
+41 58 451 4023 (direct)
+41 79 191 0486 (mobile)
lindsey.rodger@ferring.com
or
Bhavin Vaid
Head of Corporate Communications
+41 58 301 0952 (direct)
+41 79 191 0632 (mobile)
bhavin.vaid@ferring.com