Royalty Pharma and Zymeworks Enter Into $250 Million Royalty-Backed Note Financing

JUPITER, Fla., Sept. 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: LGND) today announced that it has entered into a financing agreement with AvenCell Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage cell therapy company developing controllable, allogeneic CAR-T therapies for patients with cancer, for up to $47 million. The investment will help advance AvenCell’s pipeline, including AVC-201 for the treatment of relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and AVC-203 for the treatment of B-cell malignancies.

JUPITER, Fla., Sept. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: LGND) today announced it has acquired an ascending tiered royalty interest in Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.’s (“Santen”) Ryjunea® from Sydnexis, Inc. (“Sydnexis”) for a $23 million upfront payment.

As the FDA mulls whether to approve Takeda and Protagonist Therapeutics’ rusfertide, Zealand Pharma has sold its own rights to the blood cancer drug in return for $100 million.