[2][3] In 2008 in response to shareholder pressure, PDL spun out its active development programs to a company called Facet Biotech that it capitalized with $400 million.

[4][5] Protein Design Labs, founded in 1986[5] by cell biologist Laurence J. Korn and mathematician Cary Queen,[6] was a pioneer in humanizing monoclonal antibodies.

Its humanization technology was used in several monoclonal antibody drugs under licensing and collaboration agreements; such products included trastuzumab (Herceptin), bevacizumab (Avastin), and palivizumab (Synagis).

[7] It held its initial public offering in 1992[8] and by 1994 it had 13 compounds in its pipeline, and had partnered its lead product, the humanized monoclonal antibody daclizumab, with Roche under a license that called for a 15% royalty.

[12] These are the kinds of intellectual property and license agreements that PDL manages on behalf of its shareholders since 2008;[3] in 2007 those royalty payments were around $220 million.