Ligand Pharmaceuticals Ranked in Deloitte’s 2019 Technology Fast 500™

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: LGND) today announced it ranked in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500™, a listing of the 500 fastest-growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America now in its 25^th year. Ligand’s revenue grew 250% during the period upon which this list is based.

“This is the third time Ligand has been included in the Technology Fast 500, and we are very pleased once again to be recognized by Deloitte for our rapid revenue growth,” said John Higgins, Chief Executive Officer of Ligand. “The years covered by this ranking were highly productive for Ligand and featured significant growth in revenue and cash flow. Our success in this period was driven by great business execution, strong performance by partnered programs and prolific deal making. Deloitte highlighted in their announcement that the winners are the companies that push boundaries, help organizations become more efficient and productive, and ultimately enable businesses to drive growth and revenue. We are proud to be recognized among such an accomplished class.”

“This year marks the 25^th anniversary of Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500, so we are especially pleased to announce and congratulate the 2019 winners,” said Sandra Shirai, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP, and U.S. technology, media and telecommunications leader. “It’s always inspiring to see how the Fast 500 companies are transforming business and the world in which we live and work.”

About Deloitte’s 2019 Technology Fast 500™

Now in its 25^th year, Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 provides a ranking of the fastest-growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies — both public and private — in North America. Technology Fast 500 award winners are selected based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2015 to 2018.

In order to be eligible for Technology Fast 500 recognition, companies must own proprietary intellectual property or technology that is sold to customers in products that contribute to a majority of the company's operating revenues. Companies must have base-year operating revenues of at least $50,000, and current-year operating revenues of at least $5 million. Additionally, companies must be in business for a minimum of four years and be headquartered within North America.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Ligand is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing or acquiring technologies that help pharmaceutical companies discover and develop medicines. Our business model creates value for stockholders by providing a diversified portfolio of biotech and pharmaceutical product revenue streams that are supported by an efficient and low corporate cost structure. Our goal is to offer investors an opportunity to participate in the promise of the biotech industry in a profitable, diversified and lower-risk business than a typical biotech company. Our business model is based on doing what we do best: drug discovery, early-stage drug development, product reformulation and partnering. We partner with other pharmaceutical companies to leverage what they do best (late-stage development, regulatory management and commercialization) to ultimately generate our revenue. Ligand’s OmniAb technology platform is a patent-protected transgenic animal platform used in the discovery of fully human mono- and bispecific therapeutic antibodies. The Captisol® platform technology is a patent-protected, chemically modified cyclodextrin with a structure designed to optimize the solubility and stability of drugs The Vernalis Design Platform (VDP) integrates protein structure determination and engineering, fragment screening and molecular modeling, with medicinal chemistry, to help enable success in novel drug discovery programs against highly-challenging targets. Ligand has established multiple alliances, licenses and other business relationships with the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies including Amgen, Merck, Pfizer, Gilead, Janssen, Baxter International and Eli Lilly. For more information, please visit www.ligand.com.

Follow Ligand on Twitter @Ligand_LGND.

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