M&A Deal Summary

HitGen Acquires Vernalis

On October 12, 2020, HitGen acquired life science company Vernalis from Ligand Pharmaceuticals for 25M USD

Acquisition Highlights
  • This is HitGen’s 1st transaction in the Life Science sector.
  • This is HitGen’s largest (disclosed) transaction.
  • This is HitGen’s 1st transaction in the United Kingdom.

M&A Deal Summary
Date 2020-10-12
Target Vernalis
Sector Life Science
Buyer(s) HitGen
Sellers(s) Ligand Pharmaceuticals
Deal Type Divestiture
Deal Value 25M USD

Target

Vernalis

Winnersh, United Kingdom
website
Vernalis Plc is a commercial stage pharmaceutical company with three marketed products; Tuzistra® XR in the US prescription cough cold market, Moxatag®, a once-a-day formulation of the antibiotic amoxicillin, also for the US prescription market, and frovatriptan an acute treatment for migraine. Vernalis Plc was founded in 1988 and is based in Winnersh, United Kingdom.

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Buyer(S) 1

Buyer

HitGen

Chengdu, China

website

Category Company
Founded 2012
Sector Life Science
Employees458
Revenue 311M CNY (2021)
DESCRIPTION

HitGen is a rapidly growing biotech company with headquarters in Chengdu, China, and a subsidiary in the USA. HitGen has established an industry-leading platform for early-stage drug discovery research, centred on DNA-encoded chemical libraries (DELs). HitGen’s DELs include encoded syntheses for hundreds of billions of novel, diverse, drug-like small molecule and macrocycle compounds. These compounds are members of DELs synthesized from many hundreds of distinct chemical scaffolds, designed and assembled with tractable chemistry based on proven results for identifying drug-like leads against biological targets from known and novel classes. HitGen is working with multiple pharmaceutical and biotech companies, foundations, and research institutes in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia to discover and develop novel therapeutics of the future. HitGen was founded in 2012 and is based in Chengdu, China.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 1 of 1
Sector (Life Science) 1 of 1
Type (Divestiture) 1 of 1
Country (United Kingdom) 1 of 1
Year (2020) 1 of 1
Size (of disclosed) 1 of 1

Seller(S) 1

SELLER

Ligand Pharmaceuticals

EmeryVille, California, United States

website

Category Company
Founded 1987
Sector Life Science
Employees154
Revenue 277M USD (2021)
DESCRIPTION

Ligand Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical company, develops products for men's and women's hormone-related diseases, osteoporosis, metabolic disorders, and cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases. Ligand Pharmaceuticals was founded in 1987 and is based in EmeryVille, California.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 1 of 1
Sector (Life Science) 1 of 1
Type (Divestiture) 1 of 1
Country (United Kingdom) 1 of 1
Year (2020) 1 of 1
Size (of disclosed) 1 of 1
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
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FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2023-09-27 Novan

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Novan is a specialty dermatology company focused on researching, developing, and marketing innovative therapeutic products for skin diseases. Novan was founded in 2006 and is based in Durham, North Carolina.

Buy $12M
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