Ligand Pharmaceuticals has named Todd C. Davis as Chief Executive Officer. John Higgins has retired as Chief Executive Officer and will resign as a director of the company on December 31, 2022.
 
Mr. Davis is currently a member of Ligand’s board of directors and is Managing Partner of RoyaltyRx Capital, a special opportunities investment firm he founded in 2018.
 
“On behalf of the Board and everyone at Ligand, I extend our profound gratitude to John Higgins for his 16 years of exceptional service to our company and wish him all the best in his future endeavors,” said John W. Kozarich, Ph.D., Ligand’s Chairman. “When the Board recruited John as CEO in 2006, Ligand was operating at a significant net loss and had fewer than 10 royalty assets. With great vision, speed and effectiveness, John implemented a new royalty-based business model, acquired new technologies, and positioned the company for significant growth and profitability. Today Ligand has nearly 150 partnered drugs and drug candidates in various stages of commercialization and development. Following Ligand’s recent spinout of OmniAb, and its related drug discovery and enabling technologies, we look forward to further strengthening the portfolio through a focus on underserved life science royalty opportunities. With this transition, we are pleased Mr. Higgins will continue to serve as chairman of OmniAb and remain engaged with that company.”
 
“Todd Davis has been actively involved in setting Ligand’s strategic direction, and we are fortunate he has agreed to serve as CEO. Owing to his deep knowledge of Ligand and his vast experience successfully assembling life sciences royalty portfolios, we look forward to a seamless and orderly transition. Importantly Todd’s extensive royalty experience makes this an opportune time for him to take the helm at Ligand,” added Kozarich.
 
Mr. Davis has nearly 30 years of experience in biopharmaceutical and life sciences operations and investing. He has been involved in over $3 billion of healthcare financings including growth equity, public equity turnarounds, structured debt and royalty acquisitions. He has led, structured and closed more than 40 intellectual property licenses, as well as royalty and hybrid royalty-debt transactions. Prior to founding RoyaltyRx Capital, Mr. Davis was a founder and Managing Partner at HealthCare Royalty Partners (formerly Cowen HealthCare Royalty Partners), a global healthcare investment firm. Previously, he was a partner responsible for biopharmaceutical growth equity investments at Apax Partners.