Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) (the Company or Ligand) today announced that it has earned from GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) (GSK) a milestone payment of $1 million as a result of GSK’s submission of a New Drug Application (NDA) for PROMACTA® (eltrombopag). If approved, PROMACTA would be the first oral platelet growth factor therapy for the short-term treatment of previously treated patients with chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) to increase platelet counts and reduce or prevent bleeding. Chronic ITP is a disorder marked by increased platelet destruction and/or inadequate platelet production in the blood, which causes an increased risk of bruising and bleeding. PROMACTA is an investigational, once-daily oral treatment that induces the proliferation and differentiation of cells in the bone marrow to produce platelets.
