Ligand Pharmaceuticals Expands Senior Leadership Team with Two Key Hires

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: LGND) today announced it has appointed Richard Baxter to the role of Senior Vice President of Investment Operations, and Karen Reeves, M.D., to Senior Vice President of Clinical Strategy and Investments. Both executives will report to CEO Todd Davis.

“Rich and Karen strengthen our commercial and clinical bench, better positioning us to capitalize on this exciting period in the life sciences industry,” said Todd Davis, CEO of Ligand. “These appointments are the latest in Ligand’s initiative to enhance and scale our deal capabilities by selectively adding new talent. There are incredible developments taking place across the industry today, and we are fortunate to have professionals of this caliber to help us originate, evaluate, and execute transactions in real time.”

Mr. Baxter, who is a member of Ligand’s Investment Committee, has worked across the healthcare landscape and brings decades of commercial and investment experience, including control equity and minority equity investments, senior secured debt financings, royalty financings, and public bank debt and bond transactions. He co-founded the healthcare group for the Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund at Fortress Investment Group, which invested approximately $1 billion in emerging life sciences companies. He also served as co-head of the healthcare team at Hayfin Capital Management LLP, which deployed $1.4 billion in capital over four years.

Before starting his investment career, Mr. Baxter held senior operating roles in the pharmaceutical industry, including positions at PathoGenesis Corp., ViroPharma Inc., and SmithKline Beecham. He earned an A.B. (cum laude) from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Dr. Reeves brings more than 20 years of experience in senior roles at top pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer Inc. She has extensive experience in Phase 1 through 4 drug development across multiple therapeutic areas, including neuroscience, oncology, immunology, pulmonary, cardiovascular, infectious diseases, vaccines, urology, women’s health, and rare diseases.

Most recently, she served as President and Chief Medical Officer of AZTherapies, Inc. a private, late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company focused on developing drugs for neuroinflammation and severe neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s and ALS. Before AZTherapies, Dr. Reeves held multiple leadership positions at Pfizer including Vice President, Worldwide Research and Development, Vice President, Worldwide Safety & Regulatory, and Head of Global Clinical Submissions Quality. During her tenure at Pfizer, she held leadership roles in several successful global development programs and approvals, including three marketed drugs in neuroscience, and served as team lead for the Prix Galien Award winner for Best Pharmaceutical (CHANTIX). She previously served as Vice President and Head of Global Medical Science, at Astellas Pharma Inc., where she oversaw global medical physicians across therapeutic areas, including the clinical lead for XTANDI, a prostate cancer treatment that was ultimately sold to Pfizer.