Announcement of First Major Investment Since IPO

 

BIOPHARMA CREDIT PLC

(THE "COMPANY")

 

ANNOUNCEMENT OF FIRST MAJOR INVESTMENT SINCE IPO

 

BioPharma Credit PLC (the "Company") is pleased to announce that, on 21 November 2017, it and BioPharma Credit Investments IV, S.àr.L. ("BioPharma-IV") entered into a definitive loan agreement for up to US$500 million with TESARO, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSRO), a oncology focused biopharmaceutical company ("TESARO") with a market capitalization of US$4.5 billion as of 20 November, 2017. TESARO has commercial operations in the United States and Europe, and currently markets ZEJULA® (niraparib) and VARUBI® (rolapitant). TESARO intends to use the proceeds of the financing to strengthen its leading PARP inhibitor franchise in ovarian cancer, further expand the development of ZEJULA in other tumor types in order to help realize its full potential, and rapidly advance its robust immuno-oncology portfolio using combination-based approaches.   

"We are pleased to partner with TESARO in this transaction," said Pedro Gonzalez de Cosio, CEO of Pharmakon Advisors, LP. "We believe that TESARO is well on its way to becoming an oncology leader with an excellent management team, portfolio of commercial products with blockbuster potential in their current indications, and an exciting clinical development program that will one day offer patients additional indications for niraparib as well as new immuno-oncology therapies."

 

Under the terms of the transaction, the Company will invest up to US$370m (US$222m in the first tranche and up to an additional US$148m by December 20, 2018) and BioPharma-IV will invest up to US$130m in parallel with the Company acting as collateral agent.  The loan has a term of seven years and is secured by TESARO's U.S. rights to ZEJULA^® and VARUBI^®.  The first US$300 million tranche bears interest at LIBOR plus 8%, with the second optional tranche bearing interest at LIBOR plus 7.5%. The LIBOR rate is subject to a floor of 1% and certain caps. Each tranche of the loan is interest only for the first two years, amortizes over the remaining term, and can be prepaid at TESARO's discretion, at any time, subject to prepayment fees.  The first US$300 million tranche is expected to close and be funded within 10 business days. 

 

ZEJULA® is a once-daily, oral poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) 1/2 inhibitor approved for the maintenance treatment of women with recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer who are in a complete or partial response to platinum-based chemotherapy in the U.S. Iit is the market-leading PARP inhibitor in the U.S. PARP inhibition interferes with DNA repair, leading to accumulation of single strand breaks. Single strand breaks become double strand breaks, which are not repaired due to deficient DNA repair pathways present in many ovarian tumors.  In the Phase 3 NOVA trial, the median PFS for patients treated with ZEJULA was nearly 4x higher than placebo in the gBRCAmut cohort and more than 2x higher than placebo in the non-gBRCAmut cohort. Treatment with ZEJULA reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 74% in patients with germline BRCA mutations and by 55% in patients without germline BRCA mutations. ZEJULA received U.S. FDA approval in March 2017 and EMEA approval in November 2017. TESARO has ongoing and planned trials for 1^st line and recurrent ovarian cancer and expansion into certain other solid tumors.  ZEJULA's Composition of Matter IP covers the drug through 2030.

 

VARUBI® (rolapitant) is approved for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in the U.S. and Europe.

 

 

Link Company Matters Limited

Company Secretary

 

21 November 2017

 

 

 

Enquiries:

 

Buchanan

David Rydell/ Mark Court/ Jamie Hooper/ Henry Wilson

+44 (0) 20 7466 5000

[email protected]

 

 

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^th 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 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

  

This announcement contains Inside Information as defined under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.