On February 7, 2019 Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: LGND) reported it has entered into a worldwide OmniAb partnership with Genagon Therapeutics AB, an immuno-oncology focused biotech located in Sweden (Press release, Ligand, FEB 7, 2019, View Source [SID1234533127]). Under the terms of the partnership, Genagon gains access to the full OmniAb platform including OmniRat, OmniMouse, OmniFlic and OmniChicken in their drug discovery efforts. Ligand received an upfront payment and is eligible to receive development milestone payments and tiered royalties for each product incorporating an OmniAb-derived antibody. Genagon will be responsible for costs related to their programs.

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"This agreement gives Genagon access to an industry-leading antibody discovery technology and the only platform to offer access to three species that produce fully-human antibodies. Genagon is focused on the immuno-oncology space, a promising area of current scientific research, and we are glad to welcome them as a partner", said John Higgins, Chief Executive Officer of Ligand. "The OmniAb platform is innovative and it has proven itself to be a broadly-licensable technology that we will continue to leverage as we build our Shots-on-Goal business model."

"We are very happy to partner with Ligand in gaining access to the OmniAb platform for developing ground-breaking antibody based therapeutics for immuno-oncology targeting novel suppressive pathways on antigen presenting cells discovered at Genagon," states Simon Fredriksson, Chief Executive Officer of Genagon.