Ligand Pharmaceuticals has entered into a worldwide license agreement with Gilead Sciences, Inc. Under the license, Gilead will be able to use the OmniRat®, OmniMouse® and OmniFlic® platforms to discover fully human mono- and bispecific antibodies to be developed for the treatment of various diseases. Ligand is eligible to receive annual platform access payments, milestone payments and royalties for each product incorporating an OmniAb antibody. Gilead will be responsible for all costs related to the programs.
“Having access to the OmniAb platform provides Gilead with an industry-leading technology to discover novel antibody therapeutics,” said John Higgins, Chief Executive Officer of Ligand. “This license agreement adds to the multiple post-OMT-acquisition licensing agreements that have already been signed including one recently signed with F-star. It also continues to demonstrate the licensing power of the OmniAb platform, which stands next to Captisol and other proprietary Ligand technologies in driving our future growth opportunities.”
About OmniAb®
OmniAb includes three transgenic animal platforms 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. The three platforms use patented technology, have broad freedom to operate and deliver fully human antibodies with high affinity, specificity, expression, solubility and stability.