Eiger Refinances Existing Debt Facility and Strengthens Cash Position Ahead of Key Milestones

Rare Daily Staff  

Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, a company focused on the development of therapies to treat and cure hepatitis delta virus (HDV) and other serious rare diseases, said that it has entered into a term loan agreement with an affiliate of Innovatus Capital Partners for up to $75 million and a stock purchase agreement for Innovatus to purchase $5 million of the company’s stock.

This loan facility and stock sale allow Eiger to refinance its existing debt and support the continued development and commercialization of its late-stage pipeline.

“Our collaboration with Innovatus further strengthens Eiger’s balance sheet ahead of important value-creating milestones this year,” said David Cory, president and CEO, Eiger. “Importantly, this agreement extends our cash runway and has the potential to provide access to future non-dilutive capital.”

Following the closings of both the term loan agreement and stock purchase agreement , Eiger retained approximately $11 million in net proceeds. Under the terms of the term loan agreement, Eiger drew $40 million at its closing and used $33.5 million to retire its existing debt facility from Oxford Finance. Principal payments on the Oxford facility were due to begin starting September 1, 2022. In addition, at the closing of the stock purchase agreement, Innovatus purchased $5 million of Eiger common stock at a price of $6.6751 per share, which represents the five-day volume weighted average price per share prior to entering into the term loan and stock purchase agreements. Eiger has access to up to an additional $35 million over two tranches, with the availability of both tranches being based on pre-determined regulatory and clinical milestones.

Eiger previously reported pro forma cash, cash equivalents and investments of $153.5 million, which included $132.7 million as of March 31, 2022 and $20.8 million in additional net proceeds from the sale of common stock under the company’s at-the-market facility in April 2022. With this new agreement, Eiger expects its cash, cash equivalents, and total investments to fund planned operations through 2024.

Besides its lead late-stage candidate targeting hepatitis delta virus (HDV), Eiger is developing peginterferon lambda as a therapeutic for COVID-19 and reported positive results from TOGETHER, a phase 3 investigator-initiated study.  The company’s five rare disease programs have been granted FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation: lonafarnib and peginterferon lambda for HDV, Zokinvy for progeria, and avexitide for both congenital hyperinsulinism and post-bariatric hypoglycemia.

Photo: David Cory, president and CEO, Eiger Biopharmaceuticals