Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc.

John L. Higgins is President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. Prior to joining Ligand, Mr. Higgins served as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Finance and Administration and Corporate Development, of Connetics Corporation, a specialty pharmaceutical company acquired by Stiefel Laboratories in December 2006. Before joining Connetics, he was a member of the executive management team at BioCryst Pharmaceuticals. Currently, he is a Director on the Boards of Techne Corporation, CoMentis and BioCryst and serves as Chairperson on the BioCryst Audit Committee. Prior to BioCryst, Mr. Higgins was a member of the healthcare banking team of Dillon, Read & Co. Inc., an investment banking firm. Mr. Higgins serves as a director of numerous public and private companies. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Colgate University with an AB in economics.

Prior to joining Ligand, Mr. Sharp served as Vice President of Finance and Principal Accounting Officer for Sequenom, (NASDAQ: SQNM). From August 2000 to November 2004, Mr. Sharp served as Director of Accounting at Diversa Corporation, a publicly traded biotech company, where he was responsible for managing the overall accounting function, including financial reporting, internal controls, and corporate governance, during a period of significant company growth. From January 1994 to August 2000, Mr. Sharp was at the public accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, most recently as a Senior Audit Manager. He received a BS from San Diego State University, and is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the Association of Bioscience Financial Officers.

James L'Italien, Ph.D., has served as our Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance since March of 2007. Previously, Dr. L'Italien was Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Compliance at Ligand Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Ligand, Dr. L'Italien was Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs at Baxter BioScience, a division of Baxter Healthcare Corporation. He has also held management positions with Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Ortho Biotech and SmithKline Beecham. Dr. L'Italien earned his Ph.D. in protein biochemistry from Boston University and a B.S. in chemistry, cum laude, from Merrimack College.

Martin D. Meglasson, Ph.D., 56, joined the Company in February 2004 as Vice President, Discovery Research. Prior to joining the Company, Dr. Meglasson was Director of Preclinical Pharmacology and the functional leader for research into urology, sexual dysfunction, and neurological diseases at Pharmacia, Inc. from 1998 to 2003. From 1996 to 1998, Dr. Meglasson served as Director of Endocrine and Metabolic Research and functional leader for diabetes and obesity research at Pharmacia & Upjohn. From 1988 to 1996, he was a researcher in the fields of diabetes and obesity at The Upjohn Co. and Assistant Professor, then Adjunct Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Meglasson received his Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Houston.

Mr. Newman is the Senior Vice President, Business and Development Operations and has served in that capacity since November 2006. Previously, Mr. Newman was the Vice President, Business Operations since July 2004. He has over fifteen years of international experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, focused almost exclusively on oncology. He has extensive experience in sales, marketing and business development functions, as well as the licensing of specialty oncology products including small molecules and biologicals. He has also been involved in all aspects of oncology drug development in both the U.S. and Canada. Mr. Newman has held increasing levels of responsibility at Lederle Laboratories, QLT PhotoTherapeutics, Ligand Pharmaceuticals, AltaRex.

Jason Aryeh has served as a Director since October, 2006. Mr. Aryeh is Founder and General Partner of JALAA Equities, LLP, a private hedge fund focused on the Biotechnology and Specialty Pharmaceutical sector. Mr. Aryeh actively serves as both a Special Advisor to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) for Drug Discovery, and as Honorary Chairman of the New Mexico Chapter of the CFF. Mr. Aryeh received his AB with honors in economics from Colgate University.

John W. Kozarich, PhD, has served as a director since March, 2003. Dr. Kozarich is Chairman and President, and a Director of ActivX Biosciences. From 1992 to 2001, Dr. Kozarich was vice president at Merck Research Laboratories, where he was responsible for a number of research programs. Dr. Kozarich is also a biotechnology professor at the Scripps Research Institute, and previously held faculty positions at the University of Maryland and Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Kozarich earned his BS in chemistry from Boston College, his PhD in biological chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard.