BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCRX), Royalty Pharma plc
(Nasdaq: RPRX) and Athyrium Capital Management, LP today announced
transactions totaling $325 million in funding for BioCryst, with
$250 million available at closing, to support the launch of
ORLADEYO™ (berotralstat) in hereditary angioedema (HAE) and the
development of its oral Factor D inhibitor, BCX9930.
Royalty Pharma will provide BioCryst with an
upfront cash payment of $125 million and will receive royalties of
8.75% on direct annual net sales of ORLADEYO up to $350 million,
2.75% on sales between $350 million and $550 million, no royalty on
sales over $550 million, and a tiered percentage of sublicense
revenue for ORLADEYO in certain territories. In addition, Royalty
Pharma will receive a 1.0% royalty on global net sales of BCX9930,
if approved.
A fund managed by Athyrium Capital Management
will provide BioCryst with a $200 million credit facility, of which
BioCryst will draw $125 million at closing. The additional capital
will be available in two tranches at BioCryst’s option, upon
reaching defined revenue milestones. The credit facility bears
interest at LIBOR + 8.25% (with a LIBOR floor of 1.75%) and is
interest-only for the entire five year term, with all outstanding
principal due at maturity. Additionally, BioCryst has the option to
pay interest in-kind for the first eight quarters of the term,
allowing the company to defer cash interest payments until after
this period. The company will be subject to a minimum
liquidity covenant of $15 million. There are no other financial
covenants unless the third tranche is drawn by BioCryst.
BioCryst plans to invest the combined proceeds
to support the launch of ORLADEYO in the U.S. and Europe and to
advance the development of BCX9930 into clinical trials in multiple
complement-mediated diseases. Additionally, BioCryst will repay its
existing facility with MidCap Financial.
“We believe ORLADEYO will be a transformative
medicine and we are excited to partner with BioCryst to bring this
oral, once-daily medicine to HAE patients. Based on the encouraging
proof of concept data in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria with
BCX9930, we also believe this oral Factor D inhibitor offers
substantial opportunities across multiple complement-mediated
diseases,” said Pablo Legorreta, Chief Executive Officer of Royalty
Pharma.
“With a prolific R&D capability, long IP on
their products and significant near-term commercial opportunities,
BioCryst represents the ideal profile Athyrium seeks for our
investments and we are very excited to contribute to the company’s
future success,” said Hondo Sen, Partner at Athyrium Capital
Management.
“The substantial financial commitment of
exceptional long-term partners like Royalty Pharma and Athyrium
Capital Management enables BioCryst to fully invest in the launch
of ORLADEYO and to accelerate the development of BCX9930 to address
an unmet need for patients and deliver value to shareholders. We
believe today’s financing reflects the next step in the
transformation of BioCryst,” said Jon Stonehouse, Chief Executive
Officer of BioCryst.
Cowen acted as financial advisor to BioCryst on
the transaction. Gibson Dunn acted as legal advisor to BioCryst.
Goodwin Procter, Wolf Greenfield and Maiwald acted as legal
advisors to Royalty Pharma. Hogan Lovells acted as legal advisor to
Athyrium Capital Management.About Athyrium Capital
Management, LP
Athyrium Capital Management, LP is a specialized
asset management company formed in 2008 to focus on investment
opportunities in the global healthcare sector. Athyrium advises
funds with over $3.7 billion in committed capital. The Athyrium
team has substantial investment experience across a wide range of
asset classes including public equity, private equity, fixed
income, royalties, and other structured securities. Athyrium
invests across all healthcare verticals including biopharma,
medical devices and products, healthcare focused services, and
healthcare information technology. The team partners with
management teams to implement creative financing solutions to
companies' capital needs.About BioCryst
Pharmaceuticals
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals discovers novel, oral,
small-molecule medicines that treat rare diseases in which
significant unmet medical needs exist and an enzyme plays a key
role in the biological pathway of the disease. Oral, once-daily
ORLADEYO™ (berotralstat) is approved in the United States for the
prevention of HAE attacks in adult and pediatric patients 12 years
and older, and under regulatory review for approval in Japan and
the European Union. BioCryst has several ongoing development
programs including BCX9930, an oral Factor D inhibitor for the
treatment of complement-mediated diseases, galidesivir, a potential
treatment for COVID-19, Marburg virus disease and Yellow Fever, and
BCX9250, an ALK-2 inhibitor for the treatment of fibrodysplasia
ossificans progressiva. RAPIVAB® (peramivir injection), a viral
neuraminidase inhibitor for the treatment of influenza, is
BioCryst’s first approved product and has received regulatory
approval in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and
the European Union. Post-marketing commitments for RAPIVAB are
ongoing. For more information, please visit the Company’s website
at www.biocryst.com.About Royalty Pharma plc
Founded in 1996, Royalty Pharma is the largest
buyer of biopharmaceutical royalties and a leading funder of
innovation across the biopharmaceutical industry, collaborating
with innovators from academic institutions, research hospitals and
not-for-profits through small and mid-cap biotechnology companies
to leading global pharmaceutical companies. Royalty Pharma has
assembled a portfolio of royalties which entitles it to payments
based directly on the top-line sales of many of the industry’s
leading therapies. Royalty Pharma funds innovation in the
biopharmaceutical industry both directly and indirectly - directly
when it partners with companies to co-fund late-stage clinical
trials and new product launches in exchange for future royalties,
and indirectly when it acquires existing royalties from the
original innovators. Royalty Pharma’s current portfolio includes
royalties on more than 45 commercial products, including AbbVie and
J&J’s Imbruvica, Astellas and Pfizer’s Xtandi, Biogen’s
Tysabri, Gilead’s HIV franchise, Merck’s Januvia, Novartis’
Promacta, and Vertex’s Kalydeco, Orkambi, Symdeko and Trikafta, and
four development-stage product candidates.
Forward-Looking Statements of BioCryst
This press release contains forward-looking
statements, including statements regarding BioCryst’s anticipated
use of proceeds from the financing transactions described herein
and statements regarding other future results, performance or
achievements. These statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors which may cause BioCryst’s actual
use of proceeds, results, performance or achievements to be
materially different from those expressed or implied by the
forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current
views with respect to future events and are based on assumptions
and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Given these
uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that could affect
the forward-looking statements contained herein include: the
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which could create challenges in all
aspects of BioCryst’s business, including without limitation
delays, stoppages, difficulties and increased expenses with respect
to BioCryst’s and its partners’ development, regulatory processes
and supply chains, negatively impact BioCryst’s ability to access
the capital or credit markets to finance its operations, or have
the effect of heightening many of the risks described below or in
the documents BioCryst files periodically with the Securities and
Exchange Commission; the agreements underlying the financing
transactions subject BioCryst to certain restrictive covenants,
which could limit BioCryst’s flexibility in operating its business;
BioCryst’s ability to successfully implement its commercialization
plans for, and to commercialize, ORLADEYO, which could take longer
or be more expensive than planned; ongoing and future preclinical
and clinical development of BCX9930 may not have positive results;
BioCryst may not be able to enroll the required number of subjects
in planned clinical trials of product candidates; BioCryst may not
advance human clinical trials with product candidates as expected;
the FDA, EMA, PMDA or other applicable regulatory agency may
require additional studies beyond the studies planned for product
candidates, may not provide regulatory clearances, which may result
in delay of planned clinical trials, may impose certain
restrictions, warnings, or other requirements on product
candidates, may impose a clinical hold with respect to such product
candidates, or may withhold or withdraw market approval for product
candidates; product candidates, if approved, may not achieve market
acceptance; BioCryst’s ability to successfully commercialize its
product candidates, manage its growth, and compete effectively;
risks related to the international expansion of BioCryst’s
business; and actual financial results may not be consistent with
expectations, including that 2020 operating expenses and cash usage
may not be within management's expected ranges. Please refer
to the documents BioCryst files periodically with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, specifically BioCryst’s most recent Annual
Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current
Reports on Form 8-K, all of which identify important factors that
could cause the actual results to differ materially from those
contained in BioCryst’s forward-looking statements.
Forward-Looking Statements of Royalty
Pharma
The information set forth herein does not
purport to be complete or to contain all of the information you may
desire. Statements contained herein are made as of the date of this
document unless stated otherwise, and neither the delivery of this
document at any time, nor any sale of securities, shall under any
circumstances create an implication that the information contained
herein is correct as of any time after such date or that
information will be updated or revised to reflect information that
subsequently becomes available or changes occurring after the date
hereof. This document contains statements that constitute
“forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in the United
States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including
statements that express the company’s opinions, expectations,
beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or projections regarding
future events or future results, in contrast with statements that
reflect historical facts. Examples include discussion of Royalty
Pharma’s strategies, financing plans, growth opportunities and
market growth. In some cases, you can identify such forward-looking
statements by terminology such as “anticipate,” “intend,”
“believe,” “estimate,” “plan,” “seek,” “project,” “expect,” “may,”
“will,” “would,” “could” or “should,” the negative of these terms
or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on
management’s current beliefs and assumptions and on information
currently available to the company. However, these forward-looking
statements are not a guarantee of Royalty Pharma’s performance, and
you should not place undue reliance on such statements.
Forward-looking statements are subject to many risks, uncertainties
and other variable circumstances, and other factors. Such risks and
uncertainties may cause the statements to be inaccurate and readers
are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements. Many
of these risks are outside of Royalty Pharma’s control and could
cause its actual results to differ materially from those it thought
would occur. The forward-looking statements included in this
document are made only as of the date hereof. Royalty Pharma does
not undertake, and specifically declines, any obligation to update
any such statements or to publicly announce the results of any
revisions to any such statements to reflect future events or
developments, except as required by law. Certain information
contained in this document relates to or is based on studies,
publications, surveys and other data obtained from third-party
sources and Royalty Pharma’s own internal estimates and research.
While Royalty Pharma believes these third-party sources to be
reliable as of the date of this document, it has not independently
verified, and makes no representation as to the adequacy, fairness,
accuracy or completeness of, any information obtained from
third-party sources. In addition, all of the market data included
in this document involves a number of assumptions and limitations,
and there can be no guarantee as to the accuracy or reliability of
such assumptions. Finally, while the company believes its own
internal research is reliable, such research has not been verified
by any independent source. For further information, please
reference Royalty Pharma’s reports and documents filed with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) by visiting EDGAR
on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
Contacts:
Athyrium:Courtney Paul+1 212
402-6925ir@athyrium.com
BioCryst:John Bluth+1 919 859
7910jbluth@biocryst.com
Royalty Pharma:+1 212
883-2295ir@royaltypharma.com
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