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Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Torben Noerup Nielsen who wrote (20622)	5/12/1998 8:15:00 PM
From: Hippieslayer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

How do you see that the market seems to think it was good? By the analysts reports? I think we will see how good a deal it will be if and when the SRGN drug is approved and if it is prescribed. All this won't be known until a year, a year and a half from now. As far as how the stock acted today, I'd say that I was right in that it was a wash. A quarter gain doesn't tell me much, but you might see it differently than me. I'll assume that LGND's management knows what they are doing and hope that this deal turns out to be a great move for lgnd and us shareholders (though robert Barry is doing a good job in convincing me to sell. Hey BOB! Wanna buy my remaining shares for 20 dollars? :-)

To: Torben Noerup Nielsen who wrote (20622)	5/12/1998 10:02:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 32384

Here's what RS had to say about the intellectual property: With the acquisition of Seragen, Ligand acquired more than just Ontak as the company has a significant patent portfolio. - To market its product Simulect, Novartis has obtained a license from Seragen. - We estimate that Ligand will receive an approximate 1% royalty on Novartis' sales. - We believe that the remainder of the patent portfolio will result in additional royalty-bearing deals and revenues to Ligand. - Seragen was unable to capitalize on these assets in the negotiations as the company was in a weak financial position. - Seragen had approximately $5.3 million in cash as of December 1997. - Overall, we believe that Ligand has made a strong step forward with the acquisition of Seragen. - First, Ligand has broadened its cancer franchise with Ontak. - The clinical risk is already behind this compound ($200 million spent to reach this point) and only the last regulatory risks remain. - Additionally, this drug has been designated an Orphan Drug which will allow for pricing premiums and some exclusivity in the market. - Second, Ligand has acquired a significant patent portfolio. - This already includes a patent licensed to Novartis and is expected to bear additional royalty-bearing deals for Ligand. - Third, Ligand has negotiated this deal in favorable economic terms for itself. - Though the acquisition is a total of $75 million, $37 million is contingent upon the approval of Ontak. - Thus, if Ontak is not approved, the acquisition of Seragen costs Ligand approximately $35 million. - If Ontak is approved for marketing, Ligand will purchase the product for an additional $37 million. - Yet we expect the product to sell $40-60 million worldwide in CTCL alone.