Amryt Raises $60 Million as It Completes Acquisition of Aegerion

Amryt Pharma said it completed a $60 million financing as it closed its previously announced acquisition of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals.

“On completion of the acquisition today, Amryt has two substantial revenue- generating products with built in 2018 revenues of $136.5 million, a ready-made international commercial business in the U.S.A., Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, a strong development pipeline and the financial flexibility to fully execute on our growth plans,” said Joe Wiley, CEO of Amryt Pharma. “Integration of the two businesses is already well underway and we are confident in the opportunities the deal will deliver for all of our stakeholders, and that the transaction will drive future shareholder value.”

In addition to the $60 million raised through the sale of shares to new and existing investors, as well as certain creditors of Aegerion, the company entered into an $81.9 million secured credit facility and issued $125 million in convertible notes to certain creditors of Aegerion.

As a result of the completion of the acquisition, Harry Stratford, Rory Nealon, James Culverwell and Markus Zeiner have all stepped down from the board, and George Hampton, Alain Munoz, Donald Stern, Patrick Vink, and Stephen Wills have all joined the board as non- executive directors.

In May, Amryt Pharma announced it was expanding its rare disease portfolio by acquiring Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Canadian pharmaceutical Novelion, for $311 million.

The acquisition of Aegerion gives Amryt U.S. rights to lomitapide, which is approved to treat adults with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, a rare inherited disorder that impairs the body’s ability to remove low density lipoprotein cholesterol, or bad cholesterol, from the blood, which leads to premature narrowing and blocking of blood vessels.  Amryt already holds marketing rights to lomitapide in the European Union, Middle East, North Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, Israel, Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the non-EU Balkan states.

The deal also added Aegerion’s Myalept to Amryt’s rare disease portfolio. Myalept, metreleptin injection, is approved in the United States to treat the rare disease generalized lipodystrophy. Aegerion had acquired the drug from AstraZeneca for $325 million in 2014.

The combined company will have its global headquarters in Dublin, Ireland and have a U.S. office in Boston.

Photo: Joe Wiley, CEO of Amryt

Author: Rare Daily Staff