Mezagitamab

Both Ligand and Xoma operate by purchasing rights to royalties and milestones, paying upfront cash to support biotechs’ assets with a view to achieving longer-term revenue streams down the line. After Xoma Royalty went on a dealmaking spree last year, the biotech royalty aggregator is now itself being bought out by its peer Ligand Pharmaceuticals. On Monday, Ligand announced plans to acquire Xoma for $39 per share of the royalty collector, representing a total deal value of roughly $739 million. The transaction, which marks a 14% premium on Xoma’s 30-day average price on April 24, is expected to close in the year’s third quarter, the companies said in an April 27 press release. Both Ligand and Xoma are what are known as biotech royalty aggregators. They operate by purchasing rights to royalties and milestones, paying upfront cash to support biotechs’ assets with a view to achieving longer-term revenue streams down the line. In the case of Xoma, the company has also been known to buy entire biotechs, as long as the price is right.Regarding Xoma, the company’s purchase will immediately equip Ligand with three potent commercial revenue generators through Xoma’s deals tied to Roche’s eye med Vabysmo, Day One’s glioma drug Ojemda and Zevra Therapeutics’ rare disease treatment Miplyffa, according to a company presentation (PDF) on the acquisition. In a Monday interview with Fierce, Ligand CEO Todd Davis noted that the deal nearly doubles the size of his company’s portfolio.Ligand has swooped in as Xoma is “approaching an inflection point financially,” the CEO explained. Aside from the expectation that the deal will be immediately accretive, Ligand also figures the Xoma purchase will continue to add “substantial additional product growth” out into the next decade, according to Davis. The timing is also right given the work Ligand has done in recent years to scale its portfolio management system, he added. “We can absorb the [Xoma] portfolio with almost 100% synergies,” Davis said. “We’ll probably bring a couple to a few employees over, and there’s some lease obligations, but there’s no commercial infrastructure required, there’s no manufacturing infrastructure, there’s no clinical development infrastructure. So this is a highly efficient business model in general, and the [operating expense] essentially tied to the Xoma portfolio now largely goes away through that synergy realization.”  In addition to the share-based purchase terms, Xoma stockholders are also in line to receive one non-transferrable contingent value right (CVR) per share, which Ligand noted will entitle the holders to a portion of 75% of the net proceeds from “certain pending litigation at Xoma Royalty.” That litigation circles back to a Xoma dispute with J&J’s Janssen unit over the commercialization of Tremfya, per the release. In the company’s latest earnings release, Xoma explained that it filed suit against Janssen over claims of breach of contract and unjust enrichment, which it linked to the J&J unit’s “unauthorized use of Xoma’s intellectual property in the commercialization of Tremfya." Overall, the Xoma buyout  is slated to add more than 120 commercial, clinical and preclinical assets to Ligand’s portfolio, including 14 that are now in late-stage development, such as Takeda’s anti-CD38 antibody mezagitamab and other candidates from the Japanese pharma’s externalized asset portfolio. With the purchase, Ligand expects its financial fortunes to ramp up for the rest of the year. The company has lifted its 2026 revenue forecast from a prior range of $245 million to $285 million to a new threshold between $270 million and $310 million. The company’s proceeds from royalties, specifically, are now expected to reach $225 million to $250 million, versus a previous expectation of $200 million to $225 million. Breaking down Ligand’s role as a biotech royalty aggregator, Davis noted that there is “over $12 billion, I would estimate, in royalty capital that’s out there and available, but the very significant majority of that capital is still focused on commercial-stage deals.” Unlike larger outfits charting similar deals such as Royalty Pharma and Blackstone, Ligand aims to fill a different niche in the royalty landscape by focusing on late-stage and private companies at the small- to midcap scale, per Davis. Regarding Ligand’s specific strategy, the company aggregates royalties by way of monetizing existing licenses that companies hold, as well as project financing, in which the company might co-fund a biotech’s phase 3 study in return for royalty contracts, Davis explained. Aside from the size and stage of companies its targeting, Ligand is also pursuing assets that address significant unmet medical needs. “That’s important not just because it gives us purpose in life—although it does—but because commercially, if you’re investing in “me-too” products or products that lack differentiation, you’re going to run into a lot more commercial issues downstream with the payers, the uptake, etcetera,” Davis said.  The deal comes after Xoma embarked on a shopping spree for struggling biotechs in the second half of last year, striking deals for the likes of Generation Bio, Mural Oncology, Lava Therapeutics and Takeda spinout HilleVax.Meanwhile, with the Xoma deal soon to be under its belt, Davis said Ligand will continue to execute on the strategy it laid out with his arrival in 2022, targeting deals that are generally in the $25 million to $60 million range. That said, the company has some increased dealmaking flexibility these days as it tries to build out a diversified portfolio, and the immediate boon from Xoma should allow the company to strike bigger transactions, too, the CEO said. Editor's note: This story was updated with comments from an interview with Ligand CEO Todd Davis. 

Strong start to UK biotech financing in 2026Ligand swallows XOMA's royalties portfolioFDA clears AstraZeneca's Saphnelo autoinjector for lupusNovartis' Rhapsido wins EU approval for chronic hivesStrong start to UK biotech financing in 2026Equity raised in the UK biotech sector during the first quarter of the year reached £552 million ($748 million), up from £466 million in the final three months of 2025. "It comes as [a] great relief to see those green shoots that started showing [at the] end of 2025 grow into a more sustained and healthier shift in market dynamics," said Jane Wall, managing director of the BioIndustry Association (BIA).Despite the uptick, the first-quarter figure was down on the same period of last year, when £924 million was raised, although two transactions — Isomorphic Labs and Verdiva Bio — made up the bulk of the figure. "While headline figures often fluctuate based on the presence of a few megadeals, the underlying story of Q1 is one of accelerating momentum and a broader distribution of capital across the UK’s innovative ecosystem," Wall said.The latest BIA report showed that VC funding was the primary driver in the first quarter of 2026, rising 17% quarter‑on‑quarter to £516 million. Meanwhile, deal activity increased significantly to 25 VC transactions, up 67% year‑on‑year, with the UK securing 57% of all European biotech funding in the three-month period.-Matthew DennisLigand swallows XOMA's royalties portfolioRoyalty aggregator Ligand Pharmaceuticals will acquire XOMA Royalty for $39 per share in cash, representing a total equity value of around $739 million, adding over 120 assets to its portfolio. The deal unveiled Monday also includes a contingent value right (CVR) entitling holders to receive a portion of 75% of the net proceeds that may result from certain pending litigation at XOMA."This acquisition will add seven marketed products and nearly double our portfolio of Phase II and III assets," said Ligand CEO Todd Davis. Included in the transaction are royalties on products such as Roche's eye drug Vabysmo (faricimab), Day One Pharmaceuticals' paediatric glioma treatment Ojemda (tovorafenib) and Zevra Therapeutics' Miplyffa (arimoclomol) for Niemann-Pick disease type C, as well as 14 late-stage programmes, headed by Takeda's anti-CD38 mAb mezagitamab.The CVR is tied to XOMA's ongoing royalty dispute with Johnson & Johnson related to the commercialisation of IL-23 inhibitor Tremfya (guselkumab) and any proceeds recovered from the litigation. The deal, which has been approved by the boards of Ligand and XOMA, is expected to close in the third quarter and be immediately accretive to the former's earnings. Ligand is increasing its 2026 revenue guidance to be in the range of $270 million to $310 million, up from a previous estimate of $245 million to $285 million. -Matthew DennisFDA clears AstraZeneca's Saphnelo autoinjector for lupusAstraZeneca secured US approval for a new subcutaneous, self-administered version of Saphnelo (anifrolumab-fnia). The once-weekly Saphnelo Pen allows adult patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) to administer the drug at home, rather than via intravenous infusion in a clinical setting.The decision by the FDA follows a complete response letter that was issued for the product earlier this year. While AstraZeneca was mum on details at the time, it said it was working with the agency to progress the application and that it expected a decision this half. The subcutaneous form of Saphnelo is already greenlit in Europe and Japan.The US approval was backed by data from the Phase III TULIP-SC trial, 56.2% of patients receiving subcutaneous Saphnelo achieving a reduction in disease activity at one year based on British Isles Lupus Assessment Group–based Composite Lupus Assessment (BICLA), compared to 37.1% for placebo.-Anna BratulicNovartis' Rhapsido wins EU approval for chronic hivesThe European Commission approved Novartis' BTK inhibitor Rhapsido (remibrutinib) for chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) in adults with inadequate response to H1-antihistamine treatment, making it the first oral targeted therapy authorised for the condition in the EU, with twice-daily administration without the need for laboratory monitoring.The latest clearance — which follows a positive opinion by the EU drug advisory body in February and the drug's inclusion in the 2026 International Urticaria Guideline — was supported by the Phase III REMIX-1 and REMIX-2 trials, wherein Rhapsido beat placebo in reducing itch, hives and urticaria activity at week 12, with improvements noted as early as week one. Rhapsido, which secured an FDA approval for CSU in September last year, is also being investigated in food allergy, hidradenitis suppurativa and chronic inducible urticaria, having recently cleared a pivotal study in the latter.-Pavan Kamat