Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Tuesday announced that it hasfiled a registration statement with the SEC for an initialpublic offering.

The San Diego company is planning to offer 3 million shares ofclass A common stock at $10-$12 per share. AllerganPharmaceuticals Ltd. Inc. of Ireland and Glaxo Inc. togetherwill buy $7.5 million worth of the stock. The offering is beingco-managed by Lehman Brothers, Hambrecht & Quist, and SmithBarney, Harris Upham & Co. Inc.

Following the offering, there will be two classes of Ligandcommon stock. The company expects to list its 5,380,829class A shares on the NASDAQ system and will not list its7,142,486 shares of class B stock.

Ligand is developing small-molecule drugs that regulatehormone-activated intracellular receptors to treat cancer andgynecological disorders.

The relationship between Ligand and Glaxo, the U.S. unit ofLondon-based Glaxo Holdings plc, was established inSeptember, when they entered into a five-year collaborationto develop drugs for treating and preventing atherosclerosis.As part of that agreement, Glaxo committed $2.5 million tothis IPO. Ligand and Allergan joined forces in July to developdermatology and ophthalmology drugs. At the time, Allerganmade a $20 million equity investment in Ligand, which gave ita 13 percent interest.

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