Ligand Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company located in San Diego, California. Founded in 1987 as Progenix Inc., the company went public in 1992. Initially focused on developing its own drugs, a period of turbulence in the early 2000s culminated in its CEO being ejected by the shareholders and provoked a change in focus to the acquisition of existing drugs and forming partnerships to develop them further. The company has been the subject of multiple regulatory investigations, negative shorts-seller reports and class action lawsuits amid allegations of securities fraud. In 2018 its CEO was listed among the top five highest paid CEOs in San Diego. Wikipedia