Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. LGND

What this company does

The company invests in and structures royalty interests in mid- to late-stage development and commercial biopharmaceutical products, generating long-duration, non-dilutive cash flows supported by a lean corporate cost structure. Its revenue is generated primarily from royalties on sales of products commercialized by its partners, supplemented by Captisol material sales and contract revenue from license fees and milestone payments. It has 12 major commercial-stage royalty assets comprising the majority of its royalty revenue, and maintains a portfolio of more than 90 additional commercial and development-stage programs. As of December 31, 2025, it had 47 full-time employees, of whom seven were involved directly in scientific research and development activities. In addition to its royalty investment activities, it operates two infrastructure-light, royalty-generating platform technologies, Captisol and NITRICIL. Captisol is a patent-protected, chemically modified cyclodextrin with a structure designed to optimize the solubility and stability of drugs. NITRICIL enables tunable dosing through an adjustable drug release profile, allowing for proprietary formulations targeting a broad range of indications.

Written from the business description in LIGAND PHARMACEUTICALS INC's annual report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, filed 27 February 2026. Every sentence was checked against that document before publication.