Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND)

Its revenue base is designed to come from several sources. Ligand receives royalties on approved products that use its intellectual property or are tied to its partnered assets, and it can earn milestone and license payments as partner programmes progress through development, approval, and commercialisation. The company also sells Captisol, its proprietary cyclodextrin-based formulation technology used to improve the solubility, stability, or delivery profile of certain medicines.

Ligand’s portfolio approach gives it exposure to multiple therapeutic areas and partner pipelines without depending entirely on a single internally marketed drug. This makes the company distinct from many small and mid-sized biotech firms, as its economics are often linked to partners’ success across a broad set of programmes. At the same time, its performance depends on factors such as product sales by licensees, regulatory outcomes, clinical trial progress, and demand for Captisol.

For investors, LGND represents a specialised life sciences royalty and platform company. Its strategy is to compound value by adding new partnered assets, collecting economics from approved medicines, and monetising technologies that help other drug developers bring therapies to market.