"Perhaps something is real close and they are expecting a nice upfront milestone payment"

I suspect this too. In their quarterly update, they refer to the Neurogen merger as a sure thing...no mention of the fact that at current share prices, Neurogen would terminate the merger because of the 4.2M share cap (4.2Mx$2 = $8.4M, only slightly more than cash). The fact that they seem completely unconcerned makes me think there will be a major event to drive up the Ligand stock price in the next 2 months so the merger can easily proceed.

Otherwise they are just going to dilute their stock price into the ground, especially if they waive the share cap.