Ligand up on Kyprolis study
- Thinly-traded Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND +15.5%) jumps on a 5x surge in volume in response to the positive news on Amgen's (AMGN +1.1%) Kyprolis (carfilzomib) study. Ligand is eligible to receive milestone and royalty payments on sales of Captisol, which carfilzomib's IV formulation utilizes. Ligand and Proteolix entered into a collaboration in 2005 to explore the use to Captisol. Onyx Pharmaceuticals acquired Proteolix in 2009 and Amgen acquired Onyx in 2013.
- Captisol is a formulation technology. It is a uniquely modified cyclodextrin, which improves the solubility, stability, bioavailability and dosing of active pharmaceutical ingredients.
- Previously: Amgen's Kyprolis beats Takeda's Velcade in head-to-head study (March 1)