Company: LGNZZ
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000886163-25-000012
Chunk: 27

Company: LIGAND PHARMACEUTICALS INC
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 27
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We believe that patents and other proprietary rights are important to our business. Our policy is to file patent applications to protect technology, inventions and improvements to our inventions that are considered important to the development of our business. We also rely upon trade secrets, know-how, continuing technological innovations and licensing opportunities to develop and maintain our competitive position.

Patents are issued or pending for the following key products or product families. The scope and type of patent protection provided by each patent family is defined by the claims in the various patents. Patent terms may vary by jurisdiction and depend on a number of factors including potential patent term adjustments, patent term extensions, and terminal disclaimers. For each product or product family, the patents and/or applications referred to are in force in at least the United States, and for most products and product families, the patents and/or applications are also in force in European jurisdictions, Japan and other jurisdictions.

Captisol 

Patents and pending patent applications covering Captisol and methods of making Captisol are owned by us. The patents covering the Captisol product with the latest expiration date is expected to be in 2033 (see, e.g., U.S. Patent No. 9,493,582 (expires Feb. 27, 2033)). Other patent applications covering methods of making Captisol, if issued, potentially have terms to 2041. We also own several patents and pending patent applications covering drug products containing Captisol as a component. Globally, we own over 400 issued patents covering all of the foregoing Captisol compositions, methods and related technology. 

Ten Captisol patents in several families are listed in the Orange Book in connection with one or more prescription drugs currently on the market. These Captisol-enabled drugs include Nexterone (Baxter), Kyprolis (Amgen), Noxafil (Merck), Evomela (Acrotech/CASI), Baxdela (Melinta) and Zulresso (Sage). These patents are listed in the table below, and each patent family containing these patents has pending and/or granted counterparts in Europe, China and Japan.

Orange Book-listed Captisol PatentsCountryPatent No.TitleExpiration (nominal) ‡United States7635773Sulfoalkyl Ether Cyclodextrin Compositions03/13/2029United States8410077Sulfoalkyl Ether Cyclodextrin Compositions03/13/2029United States9200088Sulfoalkyl Ether Cyclodextrin Compositions03