XOMA Royalty Ends Independent Run After Revenue Nearly Doubles, Ligand Closes Buyout
Ligand completed its $39.00-a-share acquisition of the royalty company on the same day XOMA redeemed its preferred stock, capping a year in which income and revenues surged 83%.
XOMA Royalty (XOMA), a biopharmaceutical royalty aggregator, ceased trading on Nasdaq after Ligand Pharmaceuticals completed its acquisition of the company for $39.00 a share in cash, closing a chapter that saw XOMA's full-year income and revenues nearly double.
The deal's completion on July 14, 2026, coincided with the redemption of XOMA's Series A and Series B preferred stock at $25.00 a depositary share, with final quarterly dividends of $0.53906 and $0.52344 a share, respectively, paid out in connection with the merger. Stockholders also received one non-transferable contingent value right per share, entitling them to 75 percent of net proceeds from certain pending litigation.
For the full year 2025, XOMA reported income and revenues of $52.1 million, an 83 percent increase from $28.5 million in 2024. The company swung to net income of $31.7 million from a net loss of $13.8 million a year earlier. Cash receipts for the year reached $50.5 million, up 9 percent, with royalty receipts climbing 68 percent to $33.6 million and milestone receipts totaling $16.9 million.
The fourth quarter contributed $13.8 million in income and revenues, a 59 percent jump from $8.7 million in the year-ago period, driven by higher income from Roche's VABYSMO and Day One's OJEMDA alongside milestone payments from Rezolute and Takeda. Net income for the quarter was $6.1 million, compared with a $4.0 million loss in Q4 2024.
Behind those figures sat a portfolio that more than doubled in scope. XOMA completed seven company acquisitions since early 2025, accumulating $11.7 million of non-dilutive capital and gaining economic interests of roughly 25 percent in up to $1.1 billion of potential milestones plus low-to-mid-single-digit royalties from eight partnered programs. A December 2025 strategic royalty share transaction with Takeda expanded the company's reach to low-to-mid-single-digit royalties and up to $852.6 million in potential milestones across nine development-stage assets, replacing a prior mid-single-digit royalty and $16.25 million milestone position on mezagitamab alone. In total, the portfolio grew from approximately 60 assets in 2023 to more than 120 by early 2026, with commercial-stage assets rising from one to seven and late-stage programs from two to fourteen.
Not every pipeline development was favorable. Seralutinib's Phase 3 PROSERA trial in pulmonary arterial hypertension showed a placebo-adjusted improvement of 13.3 meters in six-minute walk distance at Week 24, but the result missed the prespecified alpha threshold of 0.025, leaving Gossamer Bio to seek an FDA path forward. Rezolute's Phase 3 ersodetug study in congenital hyperinsulinism similarly failed to achieve statistical significance versus placebo, though the company planned to meet with the FDA under Breakthrough Therapy Designation. On a brighter note, Day One's OJEMDA received a positive CHMP opinion from the European Medicines Agency in February 2026, and Servier announced its acquisition of Day One for $21.50 a share, roughly $2.5 billion in total equity value, the following month.
Ligand raised its 2026 revenue guidance to between $270 million and $310 million, up from a prior range of $245 million to $285 million, and lifted adjusted EPS guidance to $8.50–$9.50 from $8.00–$9.00, with royalties expected at $225 million to $250 million. The company projected the XOMA acquisition would add $1.50 a share to adjusted EPS in 2027.
General and administrative expenses edged higher to $36.1 million for 2025 from $34.5 million, reflecting $3.7 million in additional business-development costs and $1.0 million in higher lease expenses tied to the HilleVax assumed lease, partly offset by $3.6 million in Kinnate exit-package costs that did not recur. Interest expense declined to $13.0 million from $13.8 million, related to the Blue Owl Loan established in December 2023. Cash and equivalents at year-end stood at $133.7 million, including $50.8 million restricted, up from $106.4 million a year earlier. XOMA repurchased and retired roughly 648,000 shares during 2025 for $16.0 million at an average price of $24.75, keeping common shares outstanding at approximately 11.9 million as of February 2026, only about 4 percent above 2023 levels despite the aggressive acquisition pace.