Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc has entered into a loan agreement for up to $10 million in proceeds. The initial funding of $5 million is expected to close within the next 10 days. The loan agreement includes an option to acquire a second $5 million tranche in the future, upon Peregrine's satisfaction of certain conditions. MidCap Financial LLC and BlueCrest Capital Finance, LP are providing the debt financing. Proceeds will be used to help fund the company's seven ongoing clinical trials in cancer and serious viral diseases and for general corporate purposes.
"In this extraordinarily difficult financing environment, we are pleased to have entered into this loan agreement with two organizations with extensive experience in the healthcare field," said Paul J Lytle, CFO of Peregrine. "This capital infusion will enable us to continue advancing our clinical programmes without tapping into the equity markets during these challenging market conditions. We are optimistic that this loan will enable us to achieve a number of value-driving clinical milestones over the coming months, enabling us to progress these programmes while waiting for the current financial turbulence to subside."
Under the terms of the 36-month loan agreement, upon closing Peregrine will receive a first tranche of $5 million. For the first six months, the payments are interest-only, followed by principal and interest payments amortized over the next 30 months. Peregrine has the option to acquire the second $5 million tranche if a number of conditions are met, including generating cash from other sources and also achieving certain pre-determined clinical trial end-points. The terms of the agreement also include a provision for warrant coverage equal to 10 per cent of each tranche amount divided by the exercise price. The exercise price is equal to the average closing price of Peregrine's stock for the 20-day period prior to closing. The financing is secured by the general assets of the company.
MidCap Financial is a commercial finance company focused on middle market lending in healthcare and other specialty vertical markets.
BlueCrest Capital Finance, a US-based commercial finance company, provides debt financing solutions to development - growth stage companies in a broad range of industry sectors including IT, Communications, Hardware, Software, Semi-Conductor, Electronics, Energy, Medical Device and Life Sciences.
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company with a portfolio of innovative product candidates in clinical trials for the treatment of cancer and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.