Privacy Policy

This privacy policy ("Privacy Policy") applies to all Ligand, Inc. web sites, including but not limited to Ligandpharma.com, Ligandinc.com and captisol.com (collectively, the "Ligand Web Sites"). This Privacy Policy explains what information Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Ligand" or "we") may collect on the Ligand Web Sites and how such information may be used and disclosed.

What This Privacy Policy Covers

This Privacy Policy describes Ligand´s use of Personal Information and Anonymous Information that we collect when you use the Ligand Web Sites. This Privacy Policy does not apply to the use of your Personal Information collected by third parties that Ligand does not own or control.

"Personal Information" is information about you that is personally identifiable to you like your name, address, e-mail address, or phone number, as well as other non-public information that is associated with the foregoing.

"Anonymous Information" means information that is not associated with or linked to your Personal Information; Anonymous Information does not permit the identification of individual persons.

BY USING THE LIGAND WEB SITES OR SUBMITTING PERSONAL INFORMATION TO US, YOU EXPRESSLY CONSENT TO THE PROCESSING OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION ACCORDING TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY.

YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION MAY BE PROCESSED BY US IN THE COUNTRY WHERE IT WAS COLLECTED AS WELL AS OTHER COUNTRIES (INCLUDING THE UNITED STATES) WHERE LAWS REGARDING PROCESSING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION MAY BE LESS STRINGENT THAN THE LAWS IN YOUR COUNTRY.

Ligand reserves the right to change the terms of this Privacy Policy at any time. Any changes will become effective as soon as we publish notice of them. We may publish notice by any reasonable means, including by e-mail or by posting notice on the Ligand Web Sites.

Your privacy is important to us. We are committed to providing our valuable visitors and customers with useful information about our products and services and to protect our visitors´ and customers´ privacy. We are committed to the ethical and fair use of the information we collect.

The information (including Personal Information) we collect from the Ligand Web Sites is limited to:

1. Use of e-mail addresses of those who communicate with us by e-mail. Our server does not collect your e-mail address unless you specifically provide it to us or communicate with us via e-mail, in which case we will collect your e-mail address and the content in and attached to your e-mail. We will use your e-mail address to respond to your inquiries or to send you our free e-mail letters, if you request them. We may also use your e-mail address to correspond with you about your account or to send you information about Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc. We do not make your e-mail address available to other organizations for commercial purposes.

2. Counts and trends regarding what pages people look at on our Web sites. Example: We can determine which pages on the Ligand Web Sites are visited most often, and which operating systems (such as Windows XP or Macintosh OS) and web browsers (such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Netscape) are the most popular. None of this information identifies you personally. We use the information in the aggregate only to improve the Ligand Web Sites and make them more informative.

3. Information volunteered by site visitors. We collect Personal Information about site visitors on site registration forms, subscription forms, surveys and sample request forms. When you register with us as a new user, we will collect your name, your e-mail address and a password you choose. We will also collect the name of your company, your full postal address, your telephone and telefax numbers. When visitors request free samples, we will collect some additional information about your compound and your use of products samples that we may send you.

Cookies. We may use Cookies on the Ligand Web Sites to help make our visitors´ experience more enjoyable and to help us understand how visitors use the Ligand Web Sites. "Cookies" are small text files that we place on a user´s computer. Cookies allow us to recognize users when they return to, and navigate through the pages of, the Ligand Web Sites. Cookies also allow us to measure the number of times a user clicks to articles on the Ligand Web Sites that are featured in our e-mail letter, as well as the "passalong rate" (that is, when the e-mail is forwarded) and sales of our products advertised in the e-mail letter. Cookies, by themselves, do not tell us the identity of an individual user unless such information is provided by that user. But if you choose to give us this information, it may be linked to the data stored in your Cookie. If for some reason you would prefer not to take advantage of the benefits made possible by Cookies, check your browser instructions. Most browsers allow you to reject Cookies or to choose which Cookies to accept.

Ligand Newsletters. For those who specifically request it, we may send an occasional e-mail letter with information about what´s new with Ligand. We may also send occasional e-mail letters for special events, such as holidays, to those who have requested our e-mail letter. If you do not want to receive this e-mail in the future, please let us know by contacting us at 858-550-7500. Please understand that processing this request may take a few days and you may receive newsletters during this time. We appreciate your understanding during this process.

If you supply us with your postal address you may receive periodic postal mailings from us with information about new products and services or upcoming events. If you do not wish to receive such postal mailings, please contact us at 858-550-7500.

Personal Information From Other Sources. We may receive Personal Information about you from other sources like telephone or fax, or from third parties that provide services for us in connection with the Ligand Web Sites. We may add this information to the information we have already collected from you via the Ligand Web Sites.

Use of Information We Collect. In general, Personal Information you submit to us is used by us either to register you on the Ligand Web Sites, respond to requests that you make, to improve our products and services and the Ligand Web Sites and to better tailor the features, performance and support of the Ligand Web Sites, and to offer you additional information, opportunities, and functionality.

We may create Anonymous Information records from Personal Information by excluding information (such as your name) that make the information personally identifiable to you. We may use this Anonymous Information for internal purposes, such as analyzing usage patterns, and we reserve the right to use and disclose Anonymous Information to third parties in our discretion.

Feedback. If you provide feedback to us, we may use and disclose such feedback for any purpose, provided we do not associate such feedback with your Personal Information. We will collect any information contained in such feedback and will treat the Personal Information in it in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Disclosure of Personal Information. Except as otherwise stated in this Privacy Policy, we do not use or share your Personal Information with third parties, unless you ask or authorize us to do so.

We may provide your Personal Information to third party service providers who work on behalf of or with us to provide some of the services and features of the Ligand Web Sites and to help us communicate with customers. Examples of such services include sending e-mail, providing marketing assistance, processing credit card payments, and providing customer service. However, these service providers do not have any independent right to share this information (expect pursuant to a legal requirement such as a subpoena or warrant).

We may disclose your Personal Information if we believe in good faith that such disclosure is necessary to (a) comply with relevant laws or to respond to subpoenas or warrants served on us; or (b) to protect and defend the rights or property of us, our customers and visitors of the Ligand Web Sites, or third parties.

Linking of Information. Ligand may combine information provided by customers with information obtained from other independent sources. This will allow Ligand to provide customers with more relevant services and promotional offers.

Change of Address. If you want to review, correct, or change your postal address or e-mail address please let us know by contacting us at 858-550-7500.

Links from the Site. As a convenience, Ligand may provide links on the Web sites to third party web sites. If you link to any of these third party web sites, this Privacy Policy will not apply to your use of those sites. We encourage you to read the legal notices posted on those sites, including their privacy policies. Ligand shall have no responsibility or liability for the data collection and use practices of those sites.

Security. Ligand takes reasonable precautions to safeguard information transmitted between users and the Ligand Web Sites. Certain pages of the Ligand Web Sites may use Secured Socket Layers encryption. However, due to the inherent nature of the Internet as an open communications network, we cannot guarantee that communications between you and Ligand and information stored on our servers will be free from unauthorized access. Users understand and acknowledge this risk when communicating with, and providing information to, the Ligand Web Sites.