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Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies) | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2019
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract] |
Basis of Presentation | Basis of PresentationOur condensed consolidated financial statements include the financial statements of Ligand and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. We have included all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, which we considered necessary for a fair presentation of our financial results. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes should be read together with the audited consolidated financial statements included in our 2018 Annual Report. Interim financial results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year.
Reclassifications | Reclassifications Certain amounts in the prior period consolidated financial statements have been reclassified to conform with the current period presentation. Specifically, our investment in Viking warrants was reclassified from “other current assets” to “investment in Viking” in the audited consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2018.
Use of Estimates | Use of Estimates The preparation of condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires the use of estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the condensed consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes. Actual results may differ from those estimates.
Accounting Standards Recently Adopted and Accounting Standards Not Yet Adopted | Accounting Standards Recently Adopted Leases - In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842). This standard requires organizations that lease assets to recognize the assets and liabilities created by those leases. The standard also requires disclosures to help investors and other financial statement users better understand the amount, timing, and uncertainty of cash flows arising from leases. In 2018, the FASB issued guidance that provides an optional transition method for adoption of this standard, which allows organizations to initially apply the new requirements at the effective date, recognize a cumulative effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings, and continue to apply the legacy guidance in ASC 840, Leases (Topic 840), including its disclosure requirements, in the comparative periods presented. We adopted this standard on January 1, 2019 by applying this optional transition method. For leases with a term of 12 months or less, we elected to not recognize lease assets and lease liabilities and expense the leases over a straight-line basis for the term of those leases. In addition, we elected the available package of practical expedients upon adoption, which allowed us to carry forward our historical assessment of whether existing agreements contained a lease and the classification of our existing operating leases. We did not elect to use the hindsight practical expedient to determine the lease term or evaluate impairment for existing leases. We continue to report our financial position as of December 31, 2018 under Topic 840 in our audited consolidated balance sheet. The adoption of this standards update resulted in the recognition of right-of-use assets of approximately $5.2 million and lease liabilities of approximately $5.9 million on our unaudited condensed consolidated balance as of January 1, 2019, with no material impact to our consolidated statement of operations. See Note 8, Leases, for further information regarding the impact of the adoption of ASU 2016-02 on our financial statements. Accounting Standards Not Yet Adopted Financial Instruments - In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses: Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (Topic 326), which amends the impairment model by requiring entities to use a forward-looking approach based on expected losses to estimate credit losses on certain types of financial instruments, including trade receivables and available for sale debt securities. ASU 2016-13 is effective for us beginning in the first quarter of 2020, with early adoption permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact of this ASU on our consolidated financial statements. Fair Value Measurement - In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13, Fair Value Measurement: Disclosure Framework—Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820), which modifies the disclosure requirements on fair value measurements. ASU 2018-13 is effective for us beginning in the first quarter of 2020, with earlier adoption permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact of this ASU on our consolidated financial statements. Collaborative Arrangements - In November 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-18, Collaborative Arrangements: Clarifying the Interaction between Topic 808 and Topic 606 (Topic 808). The new standard clarifies that certain transactions between participants in a collaborative arrangement should be accounted for under Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, when the counterparty is a customer for a good or service that is a distinct unit of account. The amendments also preclude entities from presenting consideration from transactions with a collaborator that is not a customer together with revenue recognized from contracts with customers. The new standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, and interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted in any interim period for entities that have adopted ASC 606. The standard should be applied retrospectively to the period when we initially adopted ASC 606. We are currently evaluating the impact of adopting this ASU on our consolidated financial statements. We do not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective accounting pronouncements, if adopted, would have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements or disclosures.
Revenue | Revenue Our revenue is generated primarily from royalties on sales of products commercialized by our partners, Captisol material sales, license fees and development, regulatory and sales based milestone payments, and other service revenue. Royalties, License Fees and Milestones We receive royalty revenue on sales by our partners of products covered by patents that we own. We do not have future performance obligations under these license arrangements. We generally satisfy our obligation to grant intellectual property rights on the effective date of the contract. However, we apply the royalty recognition constraint required under the guidance for sales-based royalties which requires a sales-based royalty to be recorded no sooner than the underlying sale. Therefore, royalties on sales of products commercialized by our partners are recognized in the quarter the product is sold. Our partners generally report sales information to us on a one quarter lag. Thus, we estimate the expected royalty proceeds based on an analysis of historical experience and interim data provided by our partners including their publicly announced sales. Differences between actual and estimated royalty revenues are adjusted for in the period in which they become known, typically the following quarter. Our contracts with customers often will include future contingent milestone based payments. We include contingent milestone based payments in the estimated transaction price when there is a basis to reasonably estimate the amount of the payment. These estimates are based on historical experience, anticipated results and our best judgment at the time. If the contingent milestone based payment is sales-based, we apply the royalty recognition constraint and record revenue when the underlying sale has taken place. Significant judgments must be made in determining the transaction price for our sales of intellectual property. Because of the risk that products in development with our partners will not reach development based milestones or receive regulatory approval, we generally recognize any contingent payments that would be due to us upon or after the development milestone or regulatory approval. Material Sales We recognize revenue when control of Captisol material or intellectual property license rights is transferred to our customers in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to receive from our customers in exchange for those products. This process involves identifying the contract with a customer, determining the performance obligations in the contract, determining the contract price, allocating the contract price to the distinct performance obligations in the contract, and recognizing revenue when the performance obligations have been satisfied. A performance obligation is considered distinct from other obligations in a contract when it provides a benefit to the customer either on its own or together with other resources that are readily available to the customer and is separately identified in the contract. We consider a performance obligation satisfied once we have transferred control of the product, meaning the customer has the ability to use and obtain the benefit of the Captisol material or intellectual property license right. We recognize revenue for satisfied performance obligations only when we determine there are no uncertainties regarding payment terms or transfer of control. Sales tax and other taxes we collect concurrent with revenue-producing activities are excluded from revenue. We expense incremental costs of obtaining a contract when incurred if the expected amortization period of the asset that we would have recognized is one year or less or the amount is immaterial. We did not incur any incremental costs of obtaining a contract during the periods reported. Depending on the terms of the arrangement, we may also defer a portion of the consideration received because we have to satisfy a future obligation. We use an observable price to determine the stand-alone selling price for separate performance obligations or a cost plus margin approach when one is not available. We have elected to recognize the cost for freight and shipping when control over Captisol material has transferred to the customer as an expense in cost of material sales. The timing of revenue recognition, billings and cash collections results in billed accounts receivable, unbilled receivables (contract assets), and customer advances and deposits (contract liabilities) on the Consolidated Balance Sheet. Except for royalty revenue and certain service revenue, we generally receive payment at the point we satisfy our obligation or soon after. Therefore, we do not generally carry a contract asset balance. Any fees billed in advance of being earned are recorded as deferred revenue. During the three months ended March 31, 2019, the amount recognized as revenue that was previously deferred was not material.
Commercial License Rights | Commercial license and other economics rights represent a portfolio of future milestone and royalty payment rights acquired from Selexis in April 2013 and April 2015, CorMatrix in May 2016, Palvella in December 2018 and Dianomi in January 2019. Commercial license rights acquired are accounted for as financial assets and other economic rights are accounted for as funded research and developments as further discussed below. In May 2017, we entered into a Royalty Agreement with Aziyo pursuant to which we will receive royalties from certain marketed products that Aziyo acquired from CorMatrix. We account for the Aziyo commercial license right as a financial asset in accordance with ASC 310, Receivables, and amortize the commercial license right using the effective interest method whereby we forecast expected cash flows over the term of the arrangement to arrive at an annualized effective interest. The annual effective interest associated with the forecasted cash flows from the Royalty Agreement with Aziyo as of March 31, 2019 is 23%. Revenue is calculated by multiplying the carrying value of the commercial license right by the effective interest. In December 2018, we entered into a development funding and royalties agreement with Palvella. Pursuant to the agreement, we may receive up to $8.0 million of milestone payments upon the achievement by Palvella of certain corporate, financing and regulatory milestones for PTX-022, a product candidate being developed to treat pachyonychia congentia. In addition to the milestone payments, Palvella will pay us tiered royalties from 5.0% to 9.8% based on any aggregate annual worldwide net sales of any PTX-022 products, subject to Palvella’s right to reduce the royalty rates by making payments in certain circumstances. We paid Palvella an upfront payment of $10.0 million, which Palvella is required to use to fund the development of PTX-022. We are not obligated to provide additional funding to Palvella for the development or commercialization of PTX-022. We determined the economic rights related to Palvella should be characterized as a funded research and development arrangement, thus we will account for in accordance with ASC 730-20, Research and Development Arrangements, and will reduce our asset as the funds are expended by Palvella. We will evaluate the remaining asset basis for impairment on an ongoing basis. As it is anticipated, prior to the receipt of any payments from Palvella that the cost basis will be reduced to zero, we will recognize milestones and royalties as revenue when earned. See further detail described in Note 1, Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in our 2018 Annual Report.
Share-Based Compensation | Share-Based CompensationShare-based compensation expense for awards to employees and non-employee directors is recognized on a straight-line basis over the vesting period until the last tranche vests.
Derivatives | Derivatives On May 22, 2018, we amended our 2019 Notes making an irrevocable election to settle the entire note in cash. As a result, we reclassified from equity to derivative liability the fair value of the conversion premium as of May 22, 2018. Amounts paid in excess of the principal amount will be offset by an equal receipt of cash under the corresponding convertible bond hedge. As a result, we reclassified from equity to derivative asset the fair value of the bond hedge as of May 22, 2018. Changes in the fair value of these derivatives are reflected in other expense, net, in our condensed consolidated statements of operations.
Income Per Share | Income Per Share Basic income per share is calculated by dividing net income by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted income per share is computed based on the sum of the weighted average number of common shares and potentially dilutive common shares outstanding during the period. Potentially dilutive common shares consist of shares issuable under 2019 Notes and 2023 Notes, stock options and restricted stock. 2019 Notes and 2023 Notes have a dilutive impact when the average market price of the Company’s common stock exceeds the applicable conversion price of the respective notes. It is our intent and policy to settle conversions through combination settlement, which involves payment in cash equal to the principal portion and delivery of shares of common stock for the excess of the conversion value over the principal portion. In addition, after May 22, 2018, the 2019 Notes can only be settled in cash and therefore there will have no further impact on income per share of these notes. Potentially dilutive common shares from stock options and restricted stock are determined using the average share price for each period under the treasury stock method. In addition, the following amounts are assumed to be used to repurchase shares: proceeds from exercise of stock options and the average amount of unrecognized compensation expense for the awards.

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