Henry and all,
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Tuesday January 7 6:46 PM EST
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc to announce leptin
partnership
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 7 (Reuter) - Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc will later this month announce a
new partnership for research aimed at developing signals to trigger the natural production of leptin, a
protein shown to produce weight loss, President and Chief Executive Officer David Robinson said.
Robinson, who spoke at the Hambrecht and Quist Healthcare Conference here, said Ligand will
also pursue "several" corporate alliances in diabetes research in 1997. Some of its research will
focus on the effectiveness of its cancer drug candidate, Targretin, as a diabetes treatement.
Robinson said initial findings show a link in treating the two diseases.
Ligand will increasingly focus on upfront fees and profit sharing arrangements in the new corporate
partnerships it enters, Robinson said.
He said the $85 million in cash the company currently has on hand is sufficient to carry the company
into 1997, when it expects commercialization of lead product candidates to begin.
The company's Phase III trials of the Panretin topical agent for Kaposi's sarcoma are expected to
be completed in early 1997. In addition, Robinson said the progress in Phase III trials of its
Targretin cancer drug has been "exciting, suggesting expanded applications for treating cancer."
Robinson said he expects the company's sales in 1997 to grow at about the same rate as 1996,
when they rose to an estimated $32.8 million, from $24.5 million the year before. Revenues, he
said, should cover about half of the company's cash burn.
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