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

To: bob zagorin who wrote (25648)	9/22/1998 2:17:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

bob, I think that you are wrong on both counts. I think that the manufacturing facility is for contract research that does not include ONTAK or Panretin. I don't think that SRGN has a sales force. I do think that LGND is hiring, and the same new sales force will sell ONTAK and topical Panretin next year (and possibly oral and topical Targretin).

To: bob zagorin who wrote (25648)	9/22/1998 2:25:00 PM
From: jayhawk969	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

Bob, The devil is in the details. From the Seragen filing many disclosures were made. Seragen was rapidly running out of money. Drastic measures were necessary to stay afloat. Boston University was by far the largest shareholder. BU bought the manufacturing facilities from Seragen and took over the operational staff(in excess of 100 employees) in the 2nd half of '97(recall). The purchase price was $5MM and BU received certain stock collateralization. Since BU was a primary shareholder, I personally do not consider the acquisition of Marathon an arms length transaction. It will most likely cost Ligand 8MM-- 5MM acquistion price and 3MM upon approval of Ontak with an acquisition date no later than January of 99. What I currently want to know are the revenue streams for Marathon and the operational costs associated with the acquisition. IMO, I believe the holdup on Ontak to be manufacturing related. This is not a chemical reaction, it is a biochemical reaction to grow and splice the toxin. Obviously Ajinimoto an original licensor has a great deal of know how in this area. At one point the filing infers that the drug has been previously made in the laboratory. If I can find the filing on line I will post the reference. J.D.