Ligand sells Marathon assets for $10 million

Ligand Pharmaceuticals says it has sold the assets of its contractmanufacturing subsidiary Marathon Biopharmaceuticals to CoPharma for $10 million in cash. Under the terms of the deal, another Ligand subsidiary, Seragen, has entered into a long-term supply contract with CoPharma to manufacture Ontak (denileukin diftitox).

Ligand's chief executive, David Robinson, said that the sale allows Ligand to focus on the global marketing of Ontak and will further strengthen the company's cash position to support the commercialization of its other lead products, Targretin (bexarotene) and Panretin (alitretinoin). This latest deal follows other recent moves to improve the balance sheet at Ligand, notably selling its rights to receive royalties on Roche's Zenapax (daclizumab) and Novartis' Simulect (basiliximab), and Elan Corp's decision to convert options into Ligand shares (Marketletter January 3 & 10).

Regarding the deal with CoPharma, Paul Maier, Ligand's chief financial officer (and chief executive of Seragen), said that Marathon "has done a solid job" in establishing a successful current Good Manufacturing Practices facility and added that this transaction reflects the enhancement of value by its management in building a third-party contract business.