Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement with Avista Public Acquisition Corp. II providing for the spin-off of OmniAb Inc. The combined company will be led by Ligand's President, Matt Foehr, and will be renamed “OmniAb Inc.” Matt Foehr will lead OmniAb as CEO and will resign from his role as Ligand's President and COO at closing. Kurt Gustafson has joined the OmniAb management team as CFO, bringing over 25 years of diverse experience in corporate finance and senior management roles in growth-oriented publicly traded biopharmaceutical companies, most recently as CFO of Spectrum Pharmaceuticals.

Mr. Gustafson previously served as CFO of Halozyme Therapeutics and held senior finance roles at Amgen.