X-Ceptor Therapeutics Inc.
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
The field of nuclear receptor drug discovery boasts few industrial-strength programs. X-Ceptor Therapeutics Inc., a 1999 spin-out from Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc., is one of the few dedicated players in this area of drug discovery.
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Exelixis' needs to address its increasing burn rate--expected to hit 90 million this year. With a stock mired around $8, any significant equity financing would be dilutive. Partnering was the obvious answer--except that Exelixis didn't have much to partner. By acquiring X-Ceptor Therapeutics it gets a set of much-needed near-term partnering opportunities, and it did so without significantly increasing its projected burn.