Ligand acquires xCella Biosciences for $7M, Taurus Biosciences for $5M

Ligand said in a release, "Ligand Pharmaceuticals announces the acquisition of two privately held companies that strengthen and complement its OmniAb technology platform. Ligand acquired xCella Biosciences, Inc. for $7 million in cash plus potential earnouts, and acquired Taurus Biosciences LLC for $5 million in cash plus non-transferable contingent value rights, or CVRs. In addition, Ligand will invest $2.5 million in a new company, Minotaur Therapeutics, which will be led by Taurus Biosciences' founder, in exchange for royalties on products from future programs. With the addition of these two companies, Ligand has secured a technology to further enhance its single B cell screening platform as well as technologies to discover and humanize antibodies from immunized cows or cow-derived libraries. The acquisitions are expected to enable Ligand to secure new license agreements with expanded economics as a result of the addition of tools and intellectual property that Ligand can now offer to partners. Ligand evaluated multiple public and private platforms to acquire in order to continue the expansion of the OmniAb platform and determined xCella and Taurus represented the best fit and opportunity."