Ligand Pharmaceuticals completed the acquisition of Pfenex for $516m.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company located in San Diego, completed the acquisition of Pfenex, a development and licensing biotechnology company, for $516m. "Pfenex is an ideal strategic, business and cultural fit with Ligand. The acquisition holds potential to have a significantly positive scientific and financial impact on our business in the short and long term, similar to how our Captisol and OmniAb acquisitions have played out. Pfenex will add an established, proven protein expression platform to Ligand that is highly complementary to our essential, proprietary drug discovery and formulation technologies. We are confident we will be able to quickly and efficiently grow the Pfenex business, along with our core existing technologies. It has been a very positive experience working with the Pfenex executive leadership and senior scientists while we put this deal together. We look forward to welcoming the talented Pfenex team to Ligand," John Higgins, Ligand CEO.