BioPharma Credit makes $150m loan to NovoCure – BioPharma Credit has entered into a definitive term senior secured loan agreement for US$150 million with NovoCure Limited (NASDAQ: NVCR), a commercial stage oncology company with a current market capitalisation of approximately US$1.9 billion.
The US$150 million loan will mature in February 2023 and bears interest at 9.0% per annum. Novocure will use US$100 million of the net proceeds to entirely prepay the US$100 million 10.0% coupon loan made by BioPharma III Holdings, LP (“BioPharma III”) in 2015 that was scheduled to mature in 2020. BioPharma Credit is a limited partner in BioPharma III and will therefore receive a distribution of approximately US$46 million from BioPharma III as a result of the prepayment from Novocure.
Novocure manufactures and sells the Optune system, a cancer treatment centered on a proprietary therapy called TTFields, which involves the use of electric fields tuned to specific frequencies to disrupt solid tumor cancer cell division. Optune is currently approved for the treatment of adults with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). On 9 January 2018, Novocure reported unaudited revenues of US$53.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2017 and US$177 million for the full year ended 31 December 2017. Novocure invests meaningfully in R&D and has late stage trials (Phase III pilot studies) underway for TTFields in brain metastases, non-small cell lung cancer and pancreatic cancer.
BPCR : BioPharma Credit makes $150m loan to NovoCure