Cancer treatment company Novocure (NASDAQ: NVCR) announced that it has entered into a $150 million term loan agreement with investment fund BioPharma Credit PLC (LSE: BPCR) The proceeds will be used to pay in full Novocure’s existing $100 million term loan debt and fund working capital. The agreement improves upon the pricing and terms of Novocure’s existing credit facility with BioPharma Secured Investments III Holdings Cayman LP and extends the maturity of Novocure’s debt until February 2023.
Novocure offers a treatment for brain tumors that uses electrodes, and which has proven its approach better than the current method in its clinical trials. The treatment is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The technology was developed by Prof. Yoram Palti at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology and the company's development center remains in Haifa.
Novocure CFO Wilco Groenhuysen said, “Novocure is a global oncology company with a proprietary platform technology, and we are pleased to further strengthen our cash position with non-dilutive capital. This new credit facility provides us with the financial stability and flexibility to continue to execute our core strategies of driving commercial adoption of Optune and advancing our clinical pipeline.”
Armentum Partners acted as financial advisor to Novocure for the debt transaction. Sidley Austin LLP acted as legal advisor to Novocure.
Novocure's proprietary therapy is called TTFields and uses electric fields tuned to specific frequencies to disrupt solid tumor cancer cell division. Novocure’s commercialized product is approved for the treatment of adult patients with glioblastoma. Novocure has ongoing or completed clinical trials investigating TTFields in brain metastases, non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer and mesothelioma.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 8, 2018
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