On Dec. 29, 1999, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Bexarotene (Targretin) to treat cutaneous T-cell lymphoma—a rare disorder of the immune system where T-cells, a type of white blood cell that fights infections and other diseases, become cancerous and affect the skin and blood.

Bexarotene was developed by the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) and the La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation (now the Sanford-Burnham Research Institute), and licensed to Ligand Pharmaceuticals located in San Diego.