Ligand Soars 3.86 on $270M Surge, 390th in Volume, as AVIM Deals and Device Partnerships Drive Biotech Rally

On August 12, 2025, Ligand (LGND) surged 3.86% with a trading volume of $270 million, marking a 74.61% increase from the previous day and ranking 390th in market activity. The biotech firm's recent financial and strategic developments have drawn investor attention, particularly its non-dilutive funding partnerships and licensing agreements.

A key catalyst for Ligand's performance was its $35 million non-dilutive investment from Orchestra BioMed in exchange for future royalties tied to AVIM therapy development. This collaboration extends Ligand's cash runway into mid-2027 while preserving equity structure. Separately, Ligand's $20 million convertible note with Medtronic for AVIM-enabled pacemaker commercialization highlights its role in advancing device-based hypertension treatments, a $10 billion market opportunity.

The company's intellectual property portfolio, including 120 global patents and 2025 hypertension-specific filings, strengthens its competitive position in cardiovascular innovation. Strategic partnerships with industry leaders like Medtronic and Terumo balance collaboration with market competition, particularly in $25 billion cardiovascular device segments. These alliances reduce liquidity risks while aligning with industry trends of shared-risk development models.

Orchestra BioMed's FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for AVIM therapy further validates the clinical potential of Ligand's platform. The expanded enrollment criteria for the BACKBEAT study—increasing patient pool by 24x—positions the company to address unmet needs in uncontrolled hypertension treatment, a high-margin niche within the broader $10 billion device-based therapy market.

The strategy of buying the top 500 stocks by daily trading volume and holding them for one day resulted in a moderate return. The total profit from this strategy, considering the given time period from 2022 to the present, is $2,550. The maximum drawdown during this period was -15.2%, which occurred on October 27, 2022. This indicates that while the strategy has been profitable overall, it has experienced significant volatility and there have been periods of substantial loss.