Liquidia Announces Acquisition, Prices Public Offering

Rare Daily Staff

Liquidia Technologies, which develops therapeutics produced using its particle engineering technology that borrows from the semiconductor industry, said it priced a $75 million public offering on the heels of an announced acquisition of RareGen.

RareGen provides strategy, investment, and commercialization for rare disease pharmaceutical products. It has a small, targeted sales force focused on pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). RareGen acquired the right to promote Sandoz’s first-to-file generic of Remodulin for the treatment of patients with PAH. In March 2019, Sandoz and RareGen launched their generic treprostinil injection, making it the first generic of Remodulin to market. 

Liquidia Technologies is applying its novel PRINT technology toward the internal development of two product candidates for which they hold worldwide commercial rights. The first is its lead experimental therapy LIQ861 for PAH that is currently in an open-label phase 3 trial. Liquidia is also developing LIQ865 for local post-operative pain, for which it has competed two phase 1 clinical trials.

Following the closing of the merger transaction, Liquidia and RareGen will be wholly owned operating subsidiaries of Liquidia Corporation. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Liquidia will acquire 100 percent ownership of RareGen for 6.2 million shares of Liquidia Corporation common stock. RareGen members are entitled to receive between 1.5 million and 2.7 million shares of additional Liquidia Corporation common stock if certain RareGen net sales thresholds are met in 2021.

The transaction was approved by the boards of directors of Liquidia and RareGen and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020.

“The acquisition of RareGen creates tremendous value for Liquidia’s stockholders and, most importantly, patients,” said Neal Fowler, CEO of Liquidia. “RareGen offers a knowledgeable team and scalable sales force, coupled with rights to commercialize an important PAH product that complements Liquidia’s lead product candidate in PAH, LIQ861.

In its public offering, Liquidia is selling of 9.4 million shares of its common stock at a $8.00. All of the shares in the offering will be sold by Liquidia. In addition, Liquidia has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,406,250 shares of common stock at the public offering price, less the underwriting discount and commissions.

Photo: Neal Fowler, CEO of Liquidia