10th Jan 2022 07:00
10 JANUARY 2022
BIOPHARMA CREDIT PLC
(THE "COMPANY")
NEW INVESTMENT OF UP TO US$150.0 MILLION
US$50.0 million immediately deployed
BioPharma Credit PLC (LSE: BPCR), is pleased to announce that it, through its fully owned subsidiary, together with BioPharma Credit Investments V (Master) LP ("BioPharma-V" and jointly with the Company the "Lenders") has entered into a definitive senior secured loan agreement with Coherus Inc ("Coherus"). The Company will invest up to US$150.0 million and BioPharma-V will invest up to an additional US$150.0 million.
Based in the US, Coherus is a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company with a current market capitalization of ~US$1.2 billion (Ticker: CHRS - NASDAQ). Coherus, a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company, reported net sales of US$253 million during the first nine months of 2021. Coherus markets UDENYCA® (pegfilgrastim-cbqv), a biosimilar of Neulasta® in the United States, and expects to launch the FDA-approved Humira® biosimilar YUSIMRY™ (adalimumab-aqvh) in the United States in 2023. The FDA is currently reviewing the biologics license application for CHS-201, a biosimilar of Lucentis® (ranibizumab), with a target action date of August 2022. Coherus is also developing CHS-305, a biosimilar of Avastin® (bevacizumab). Coherus' strategy is to build a leading immuno-oncology franchise funded with cash generated by its commercial biosimilar business. In February 2021, Coherus in-licensed toripalimab, an anti-PD-1 antibody, in the United States and Canada. A biologics license application for toripalimab for the treatment of metastatic or recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma is currently under priority review by the FDA with a target action date of April 2022. Toripalimab is also being evaluated in pivotal clinical trials for the treatment of cancers of the lung, breast, liver, skin, kidney, stomach, esophagus, and bladder.
Under the terms of the transaction, the Company will invest up to US$150.0 million (US$50.0 million in the first tranche, US$50.0 million by 1 April 2022 and up to an additional US$50.0 million by 17 March 2023) and BioPharma-V will invest up to US$150.0 million in parallel, with the Company acting as collateral agent. The loan will mature in January 2027 and will bear interest at 3-month LIBOR plus 8.25 per cent. per annum subject to a 1.00 per cent. floor along with a one-time additional consideration of 2.0 per cent. of the total loan amount payable upon funding of the first tranche.
"We are pleased to partner with Coherus in this transaction," said Pedro Gonzalez de Cosio, CEO of Pharmakon Advisors, LP. the Company's investment adviser, "This non-dilutive capital will support the launch of several new products as Coherus enters a period of rapid topline growth and diversification of its commercial product portfolio, launching as many as five new products over the next 18 months."
-Ends-
Enquiries
BioPharma Credit plc
via Link Company Matters Limited
Company Secretary
+44 (0)1392 477 509
J.P. Morgan Cazenove
+44 (0)20 7742 4000
William Simmonds
Buchanan
+44 (0)20 7466 5000 / [email protected]
David Rydell
Mark Court
Jamie Hooper
Henry Wilson
Notes to Editors:
BioPharma Credit PLC is London's only listed specialist investor in debt from the life sciences industry and joined the LSE on 27 March 2017. The Company seeks to provide long-term shareholder returns, principally in the form of sustainable income distributions from exposure to the life sciences industry. The Company seeks to achieve this objective primarily through investments in debt assets secured by royalties or other cash flows derived from the sales of approved life sciences products.
LEI: 213800AV55PYXAS7SY24