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." 

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