HitGen, a drug discovery firm, agreed to acquire biotech company Vernalis' research operations from Ligand, a biopharmaceutical company located in San Diego, for $25m. “This is an opportune time to divest the United Kingdom-based operations given our recent acquisitions of four US-based companies that expand our domestic presence and capabilities and fortify our antibody discovery and protein expression businesses. This transaction with HitGen represents an attractive return on our purchase of Vernalis in October 2018, while we maintain economic rights to the promising partnerships that initially attracted us to Vernalis, including with Verona and Corvus," John Higgins, Ligand CEO.