Ligand Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: LGND) announced a financing agreement with AvenCell Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage cell therapy company, for up to $47 million to support AvenCell's pipeline of allogeneic CAR-T therapies.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ligand has committed up to $41 million in exchange for a mid single-digit to low double-digit royalty on worldwide annual net sales of all current and future AvenCell pipeline assets. The applicable royalty rate will be determined based on the total amount funded. Capital will be disbursed in four tranches, with the first payable at closing and the remaining three tied to clinical milestones and specified financing conditions. Ligand has also committed up to $6 million in a concurrent Series C financing round, details of which are to be announced separately.

The investment is intended to advance AvenCell's two lead programs: AVC-201, an anti-CD123 CAR-T therapy currently in a Phase 1b expansion trial for relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia, and AVC-203, a Phase 1a program targeting B-cell malignancies.

AvenCell was founded in 2021, combining switchable CAR-T technology from GEMoaB GmbH with Intellia's CRISPR/Cas9-based allogeneic engineering platform. The company's approach is designed to produce "off-the-shelf" cell therapies with adjustable CAR-T activity for use across hematologic malignancies and autoimmune diseases.

"AvenCell has built a differentiated cell therapy platform that brings together CRISPR-engineered allogeneic CAR-T technology with a unique switchable CAR approach designed to provide greater control over CAR-T activity," said Todd Davis, CEO of Ligand.

Andrew Schiermeier, President and CEO of AvenCell, said the investment "provides us critical resources to support the continued development of these potentially important new treatment options for patients impacted by these difficult-to-treat cancers."

Hogan Lovells Cadwalader served as legal advisor to Ligand in the transaction.