Ligand earns Wyeth milestone

Ligand Pharmaceuticals from San Diego confirmed it has earned an undisclosed milestone payment from its corporate partner Wyeth, which has decided to advance NSP-989 into Phase II clinical studies for contraception.

NSP-989 is a non-steroidal, selective progestin resulting from Ligand's research collaboration with Wyeth.

'Wyeth's decision further underscores the maturation and depth of our corporate partner pipeline and the ability of our technology to generate tissue-specific modulators of nuclear receptors that provide, in the case of our Wyeth collaboration, novel approaches to contraception,' said Dr Andres Negro-Vilar, Ligand's executive vice president for research and development and chief scientific officer. 'Novel, non-steroidal progestins with distinct tissue selectivity and improved therapeutic and safety profiles are part of the new frontier of products for women's health.'

The Wyeth-Ligand collaboration began in 1994, and the research phase concluded in 1998. The collaboration's most advanced products are bazedoxifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) that Wyeth is testing in Phase III studies for osteoporosis, and bazedoxifene + Premarin, which also is in Phase III studies at Wyeth as a progestin-free hormone replacement therapy.

Under the terms of the collaboration, Wyeth is responsible for the development and registration of any products resulting from the collaboration, and pays Ligand milestone payments as products move through the development process. Wyeth has exclusive worldwide marketing rights to products resulting from the research, and will pay Ligand royalties on sales of products that make it to market.