Ligand Pharmaceuticals down as CEO John Higgins retires

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated

05/12/2022 15:49

**  Shares of biopharma co Ligand Pharmaceuticals  LGND.O 
down 2.3% to ~$71
    ** Co reports retirement of John Higgins as chief executive
officer, effective Dec 5
    ** Ligand appoints Todd Davis as the new CEO, who is
currently a member of the co's board of directors and is
managing partner of RoyaltyRx Capital, a special opportunities
investment firm he founded in 2018 
    ** Davis has nearly 30 years of experience in
biopharmaceutical and life sciences operations and investing,
with involvement in over $3 bln of healthcare financing - Co 
    ** Higgins will resign as a co director by year-end, but
will continue to serve as chairman of LGND's antibody discovery
unit OmniAb  
    ** Earlier this year, LGND entered into an $850 mln deal
with special purpose acquisition co, Avista Public Acquisition
Corp II  AHPA.O  to spin off OmniAb 
    ** Including session's fall, stock down 26.3%, YTD
 (Reporting by Pratik Jain in Bengaluru)
 ((Pratik.Jain@thomsonreuters.com;))