- Strengthens balance sheet with significant non-dilutive,
low-cost capital
- Expands ability to bring the promise of precision therapy to
broad patient populations through internal R&D and strategic
business development
- Propelled by global launches of AYVAKIT®/AYVAKYT®
(avapritinib) and GAVRETO® (pralsetinib), and shared
confidence in the important growth opportunity in systemic
mastocytosis
- Blueprint Medicines will receive $575
million in total cash funded at close
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 30,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Blueprint Medicines Corporation
(NASDAQ: BPMC) today announced strategic financing collaborations
with Sixth Street and Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ: RPRX) for up to
$1.25 billion, bringing significant
non-dilutive, low-cost capital to drive innovation and growth.
These tailored investments by two highly respected life
sciences-focused investors capitalize on Blueprint Medicines'
significant accomplishments to date and add strategic financial
partners who are aligned with the company's growth ambitions and
confidence in the anticipated commercial opportunity and launch
performance of AYVAKIT®/AYVAKYT® (avapritinib) and GAVRETO®
(pralsetinib). The financings provide capital to expand and advance
the company's robust and diverse pipeline towards commercialization
and to continue pursuing strategic and synergistic business
development opportunities.
"This attractive deal puts Blueprint Medicines in a very strong
financial position to drive rapid growth while maintaining our path
to profitability in the coming years. The combination of our strong
cash position, multiple drivers of top-line revenue, and diversity
of important pipeline programs uniquely positions us to continue
building a leading precision therapy company and bring
transformative medicines to patients worldwide," said
Kate Haviland, Chief Executive
Officer of Blueprint Medicines. "Executing this deal with such
favorable terms in the current market environment speaks to the
quality of the assets, the aligned confidence in the commercial
opportunities, and the investment opportunity that Blueprint
Medicines represents overall for firms like Sixth Street and
Royalty Pharma, with whom we are building long-term strategic
relationships."
This multi-component deal is comprised of the following
elements:
- The agreement with Sixth Street has three parts:
-
- $250 million cash upfront in
exchange for future AYVAKIT/AYVAKYT and BLU-263 royalties at a rate
of 9.75 percent subject to an annual cap of $900 million in net sales and a cumulative cap of
1.45 times invested capital;
- Up to $400 million in a senior
secured credit facility, of which Blueprint Medicines will draw
$150 million initially with an
additional $250 million available in
delayed draw tranches at Blueprint Medicines' election; and
- $260 million in a potential
credit facility to support buy-side business development
opportunities, subject to mutual agreement between Sixth Street and
Blueprint Medicines.
- The agreement with Royalty Pharma monetizes royalties
receivable from GAVRETO net sales by Roche outside of the US, not
including Greater China, with
$175 million cash paid to Blueprint
Medicines upfront and up to $165
million in potential milestone payments based on future
sales.
"Blueprint Medicines is an impressive and differentiated
biopharmaceutical company, with a proven track record of success in
developing and commercializing precision therapies. We are
particularly excited about the opportunity for AYVAKIT to meet the
substantial need in patients with non-advanced systemic
mastocytosis," said Vijay Mohan and
Jeff Pootoolal, Partners at Sixth
Street. "We believe that investing now, when the company is already
in a strong financial position, is the first step toward a
long-term relationship that will open the door to further potential
opportunities for growth and partnership."
"GAVRETO is an important precision therapy that has been
incredibly meaningful for patients with metastatic, RET
fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer who may have otherwise
had limited options," said Pablo
Legorreta, Royalty Pharma's founder and Chief Executive
Officer. "We are pleased to establish a partnership with the
experienced team at Blueprint Medicines to help fuel their
execution on the significant commercial and development
opportunities they have ahead."
Cowen and Company served as financial advisor and Goodwin
Procter LLP served as legal advisor to Blueprint Medicines. Cooley
LLP acted as legal advisors to Sixth Street. Gibson Dunn acted as
legal advisors to Royalty Pharma.
Investor Conference Call Information
Blueprint Medicines will host a live conference call and webcast
at 8:30 a.m. ET today to discuss the
collaborations. The conference call may be accessed by dialing
844-200-6205 (domestic) or 929-526-1599 (international), and
referring to conference ID 658541. A webcast of the call will also
be available under "Events and Presentations" in the Investors
& Media section of the Blueprint Medicines website at
http://ir.blueprintmedicines.com/. The archived webcast will be
available on Blueprint Medicines' website approximately two hours
after the conference call and will be available for 30 days
following the call.
About AYVAKIT (avapritinib)
AYVAKIT (avapritinib) is a kinase inhibitor approved by the FDA
for the treatment of adults with Advanced SM, including aggressive
SM (ASM), SM with an associated hematological neoplasm (SM-AHN) and
mast cell leukemia (MCL), and adults with unresectable or
metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) harboring a PDGFRA
exon 18 mutation, including PDGFRA D842V mutations. For more
information, visit AYVAKIT.com. Under the brand name AYVAKYT
(avapritinib), this medicine is approved by the European Commission
for the treatment of adults with ASM, SM-AHN or MCL, after at least
one systemic therapy, and adults with unresectable or metastatic
GIST harboring the PDGFRA D842V mutation.
AYVAKIT/AYVAKYT is not approved for the treatment of any other
indication in the U.S. or Europe.
Blueprint Medicines is developing AYVAKIT globally for the
treatment of advanced and non-advanced SM. The FDA granted
breakthrough therapy designation to AYVAKIT for the treatment of
moderate to severe indolent SM. The European Commission granted
orphan medicinal product designation for AYVAKYT for the treatment
of GIST and mastocytosis.
Please click here to see the full U.S. Prescribing Information
for AYVAKIT, and click here to see the European Summary of Product
Characteristics for AYVAKYT.
About GAVRETO (pralsetinib)
GAVRETO (pralsetinib) is a once-daily oral targeted therapy
approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the
treatment of three indications: adult patients with metastatic RET
fusion-positive NSCLC as detected by an FDA approved test, adult
and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older with advanced or
metastatic RET-mutant medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) who require
systemic therapy, and adults and pediatric patients 12 years of age
and older with advanced or metastatic RET fusion-positive thyroid
cancer who require systemic therapy and who are radioactive
iodine-refractory (if radioactive iodine is appropriate). These
indications are approved under accelerated approval based on
overall response rate and duration of response. Continued approval
for these indications may be contingent upon verification and
description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials. In
addition, GAVRETO is approved by the National Medical Products
Administration (NMPA) of China for
the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic
RET fusion-positive NSCLC after platinum-based chemotherapy.
GAVRETO is not approved for the treatment of any other
indication in the U.S. by the FDA or in China by the NMPA, or for any indication in
any other jurisdiction by any other health authority.
GAVRETO is designed to selectively and potently target oncogenic
RET alterations, including secondary RET mutations predicted to
drive resistance to treatment. In preclinical studies, GAVRETO
inhibited RET at lower concentrations than other pharmacologically
relevant kinases, including VEGFR2, FGFR2 and JAK2. For more
information, visit GAVRETO.com.
Blueprint Medicines and Roche are co-developing GAVRETO globally
(excluding Greater China) for the
treatment of patients with RET-altered NSCLC, various types of
thyroid cancer and other solid tumors. The European Medicines
Agency validated a marketing authorization application for GAVRETO
for the treatment of RET fusion-positive NSCLC. The FDA granted
breakthrough therapy designation to GAVRETO for the treatment of
RET fusion-positive NSCLC that has progressed following
platinum-based chemotherapy and for RET mutation-positive MTC that
requires systemic treatment and for which there are no acceptable
alternative treatments.
Please click here to see the full U.S. Prescribing Information
for GAVRETO.
About Blueprint Medicines
Blueprint Medicines is a global precision therapy company that
invents life-changing therapies for people with cancer and blood
disorders. Applying an approach that is both precise and agile, we
create medicines that selectively target genetic drivers, with the
goal of staying one step ahead across stages of disease. Since
2011, we have leveraged our research platform, including expertise
in molecular targeting and world-class drug design capabilities,
to rapidly and reproducibly translate science into a broad pipeline
of precision therapies. Today, we are delivering approved medicines
directly to patients in the United
States and Europe, and we
are globally advancing multiple programs for systemic mastocytosis,
lung cancer and other genomically defined cancers, and cancer
immunotherapy. For more information, visit
www.BlueprintMedicines.com and follow us on Twitter
(@BlueprintMeds) and LinkedIn.
About Sixth Street
Sixth Street is a global investment firm with over $60 billion in assets under management and
committed capital. The firm uses its long-term, flexible capital,
data-enabled capabilities, and One Team culture to develop themes
and offers solutions to companies across all stages of growth.
Sixth Street's healthcare and life sciences team provides strategic
capital and forms long-term partnerships with companies creating
new technologies to address pressing healthcare challenges and
improve patient care. Select Sixth Street investments include
Biohaven, Caris Life Sciences, ConcertAI, Datavant, DrFirst,
Mammoth Biosciences, MDLIVE, and Visiquate. For more information,
visit www.sixthstreet.com and follow Sixth Street on LinkedIn,
Twitter, or Instagram.
About Royalty Pharma
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
non-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 around 35 commercial products, including AbbVie and
Johnson & Johnson's Imbruvica, Johnson & Johnson's Tremfya,
Astellas' and Pfizer's Xtandi, Biogen's Tysabri, Gilead's Trodelvy,
Novartis' Promacta, Vertex's Kalydeco, Orkambi, Symdeko and
Trikafta, and 10 development-stage therapies.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, as amended, including, without limitation, statements
regarding plans, strategies, timelines and expectations for
Blueprint Medicines' current or future approved drugs and drug
candidates, including timelines for marketing applications and
approvals, the initiation of clinical trials and trial cohorts, or
the results of ongoing and planned clinical trials; Blueprint
Medicines' expectations regarding the investments by Sixth Street
and Royalty Pharma and the potential acceleration of its commercial
products and pipeline resulting from the non-dilutive growth
capital; Blueprint Medicines' plans, strategies and timelines to
nominate development candidates; the anticipated benefits of the
preclinical profiles of Blueprint Medicines' drug candidates; plans
and timelines for additional marketing applications for avapritinib
and pralsetinib and, if approved, commercializing avapritinib and
pralsetinib in additional geographies or for additional
indications; the potential benefits of any of Blueprint Medicines'
current or future approved drugs or drug candidates in treating
patients; the potential benefits of Blueprint Medicines'
collaborations or business development activities; and Blueprint
Medicines' financial performance, strategy, goals and anticipated
milestones, business plans and focus. The words "aim," "may,"
"will," "could," "would," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate,"
"intend," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "project," "potential,"
"continue," "target" and similar expressions are intended to
identify forward-looking statements, although not all
forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Any
forward-looking statements in this press release are based on
management's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a
number of risks, uncertainties and important factors that may cause
actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed
or implied by any forward-looking statements contained in this
press release, including, without limitation, risks and
uncertainties related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to
Blueprint Medicines' business, operations, strategy, goals and
anticipated milestones, including Blueprint Medicines' ongoing and
planned research and discovery activities, ability to conduct
ongoing and planned clinical trials, clinical supply of current or
future drug candidates, commercial supply of current or future
approved products, and launching, marketing and selling current or
future approved products; Blueprint Medicines' ability and plans in
continuing to establish and expand a commercial infrastructure, and
successfully launching, marketing and selling current or future
approved products; Blueprint Medicines' ability to successfully
expand the approved indications for AYVAKIT/AYVAKYT and GAVRETO or
obtain marketing approval for AYVAKIT/AYVAKYT in additional
geographies in the future; the delay of any current or planned
clinical trials or the development of Blueprint Medicines' current
or future drug candidates; Blueprint Medicines' advancement of
multiple early-stage efforts; Blueprint Medicines' ability to
successfully demonstrate the safety and efficacy of its drug
candidates and gain approval of its drug candidates on a timely
basis, if at all; the preclinical and clinical results for
Blueprint Medicines' drug candidates, which may not support further
development of such drug candidates either as monotherapies or in
combination with other agents or may impact the anticipated timing
of data or regulatory submissions; the timing of the initiation of
clinical trials and trial cohorts at clinical trial sites and
patient enrollment rates; actions of regulatory agencies, which may
affect the initiation, timing and progress of clinical trials;
Blueprint Medicines' ability to obtain, maintain and enforce patent
and other intellectual property protection for AYVAKIT/AYVAKYT,
GAVRETO or any drug candidates it is developing; Blueprint
Medicines' ability to develop and commercialize companion
diagnostic tests for AYVAKIT/AYVAKYT, GAVRETO or any of its current
and future drug candidates; Blueprint Medicines' ability to
successfully expand its operations, research platform and portfolio
of therapeutic candidates, and the timing and costs thereof; and
the success of Blueprint Medicines' current and future
collaborations, partnerships, acquisitions or licensing
arrangements. These and other risks and uncertainties are described
in greater detail in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in
Blueprint Medicines' filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC), including Blueprint Medicines' most recent Annual
Report on Form 10-K, as supplemented by its most recent Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q and any other filings that Blueprint Medicines
has made or may make with the SEC in the future. Any
forward-looking statements contained in this press release
represent Blueprint Medicines' views only as of the date hereof and
should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any
subsequent date. Except as required by law, Blueprint Medicines
explicitly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking
statements.
Trademarks
Blueprint Medicines AYVAKYT, AYVAKIT, GAVRETO and associated
logos are trademarks of Blueprint Medicines Corporation.
Blueprint Medicines
Media
Sarah Mena
Guerrero
+1 (617) 714-6684
media@blueprintmedicines.com
Investor Relations
Jenna
Cohen
+1 (857) 209-3147
ir@blueprintmedicines.com
Sixth Street
Media
Patrick
Clifford
+1 617 793 2004
pclifford@sixthstreet.com
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