Pharma Firm General Counsel on How Risk, Flexibility Delivered 'Home Run' With COVID-19 Drug
"Lawyers, in my personal view and to over-generalize, can be a little too risk-averse," said Ligand's longtime general counsel, Charles Berkman.
May 15, 2020 at 01:36 PM
4 minute read
Being flexible while having a healthy appetite for risk appears to be paying off for Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc., a San Diego-based firm that licenses and supplies Captisol, a crucial ingredient in experimental COVID-19 treatment drug remdesivir.
"Lawyers, in my personal view and to over-generalize, can be a little too risk-averse," said Ligand's longtime general counsel, Charles Berkman.
"But it's more about flexibility than risk-taking," he added. "We're very diversified. … So on any one business transaction we may be willing to be more flexible or take more risks than the typical biotech that might be completely focused on one or two products or projects."
Captisol, which Berkman describes as a patented "fancy sugar," allows the human body to absorb drugs, essentially acting as a delivery agent.
"Our partner has the active pharmaceutical ingredient, but it just wouldn't be effective without Captisol," Berkman said. "It's got a big, long and successful safety record."
In 2015, Ligand, which receives royalties from licensees, entered into an agreement with Gilead Sciences Inc. At the time, the pharma giant was developing remdesivir to treat Ebola. And the partnership seemed promising at first, though hopes fizzled as the drug has yet to gain approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
"The initial outcome looked like we struck out," said Berkman, who joined Ligand in 2001 as associate general counsel and chief patent counsel following a stint in Big Law at Baker & McKenzie.
But remdesivir got a second life May 1, when the FDA authorized the drug for emergency use for COVID-19 patients, delivering what Berkman said "looks like a home run at this point" for Ligand and Gilead. An attempt to speak with Gilead general counsel Brett Pletcher was unsuccessful.
"It's interesting when you look at the timeline of this," Berkman said. "You can't get disappointed too early in this industry. Things have a way of coming around if you're patient enough."
Ligand's business model is built on a diverse portfolio of pharma products and more than 100 licensing partnerships with some of the biggest firms in the industry, including Novartis International AG, Merck & Co. Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline.
"That's how the company markets itself in the financial world, as having a shots-on-goal business model," said Hayden Trubitt, a shareholder at Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth who has served as Ligand's outside counsel for years.
Trubitt represented the company in 2011 during its $35.5 million acquisition of CyDex Pharmaceuticals Inc., which had the license for Captisol. He also was involved in Ligand's licensing and supply agreement with Gilead.
"It's understood when you build a company with literally hundreds of shots on goal that most of them will be either zeros or not much. But a few will be home runs," he said. "It's an interesting business model and that's how the company plays its game."
Read More:
Gilead's Suing the Feds, and Working With Them, Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
Atlanta Lawyers Eye Trials of COVID-19 Drug After 'Mad Scramble' for IP Deal
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllNewly Public Biotech Startup Hires Life Sciences Veteran as GC
Prof's Stinging Conclusion: Lawyers for Purdue Pharma Were 'Overzealous Accomplices in Corporate Misconduct'
6 minute readSage Therapeutics Axes GC After Drug-Pipeline Failures Force Cost-Cutting
After Guiding Illumina Through Harrowing Merger Fight, GC Charles Dadswell to Depart
Law Firms Mentioned
Trending Stories
Who Got The Work
J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
Who Got The Work
Rebecca Maller-Stein and Kent A. Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer have entered their appearances for Hanaco Venture Capital and its executives, Lior Prosor and David Frankel, in a pending securities lawsuit. The action, filed on Dec. 24 in New York Southern District Court by Zell, Aron & Co. on behalf of Goldeneye Advisors, accuses the defendants of negligently and fraudulently managing the plaintiff's $1 million investment. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, is 1:24-cv-09918, Goldeneye Advisors, LLC v. Hanaco Venture Capital, Ltd. et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
Who Got The Work
Crown Castle International, a Pennsylvania company providing shared communications infrastructure, has turned to Luke D. Wolf of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani to fend off a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 25 in Michigan Eastern District Court by Hooper Hathaway PC on behalf of The Town Residences LLC, accuses Crown Castle of failing to transfer approximately $30,000 in utility payments from T-Mobile in breach of a roof-top lease and assignment agreement. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan K. Declercq, is 2:24-cv-13131, The Town Residences LLC v. T-Mobile US, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Wilfred P. Coronato and Daniel M. Schwartz of McCarter & English have stepped in as defense counsel to Electrolux Home Products Inc. in a pending product liability lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 26 in New York Eastern District Court by Poulos Lopiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP on behalf of David Stern, alleges that the defendant's refrigerators’ drawers and shelving repeatedly break and fall apart within months after purchase. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, is 2:24-cv-08204, Stern v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250