LEIDEN, the Netherlands,
October 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Pharming Group N.V. ("Pharming" or "the Company") (Euronext
Amsterdam: PHARM) announces that at its Extraordinary General
Meeting of shareholders (EGM), held today, all proposals were
unanimously approved.
This means that Pharming will now be able to execute on the
financing necessary to acquire the North-American rights for its
own therapy RUCONEST® from its US partner Valeant Pharmaceuticals
International Inc. (NYSE:VRX/TSX:VRX) for an upfront payment of
US$60 million and self funding future
sales milestones of up to US$65
million ("The Transaction").
As announced previously, the Company is aiming to raise a total
of US$80-100 million (€72-89 million)
by means of a combination of an increase of the current Straight
Debt and the issue of new Equity, either through a supported rights
issue or possibly by means of a convertible bond at a premium to
the current market price. The use of a convertible bond would
enable even less new Equity to be issued now when the price is low,
reducing the effects on shareholders from the financing for the
Transaction.
The Company is engaged in late-stage discussions with several
parties with regards to increasing the amount of Straight Debt in a
careful way, in order to optimize the leverage of the Company
following the Transaction.
For the Equity part of the transaction, the Company has to date
received initial expressions of interest from institutional
investors for participation either through a premium priced
Convertible Bond or through support for a Rights Issue and in some
cases both.
In order to maximize the value in the growth opportunity for
existing shareholders, the Board of Management is committed to
minimize the amount of Equity needed to execute on the financing
for the Transaction.
The Transaction is expected to close in November 2016.
The presentation slides from today's EGM are available on the
Company's website.
The Board of Management
Sijmen de Vries, CEO
Bruno Giannetti, COO
Robin Wright, CFO
About Pharming Group N.V.
Pharming is a specialty pharmaceutical company developing
innovative products for the safe, effective treatment of rare
diseases and unmet medical needs. Pharming's lead product,
RUCONEST® (conestat alfa) is a recombinant human C1 esterase
inhibitor approved for the treatment of acute Hereditary Angioedema
("HAE") attacks in patients in Europe, the US and rest of the world. The
product is available on a named-patient basis in other territories
where it has not yet obtained marketing authorization.
RUCONEST® is commercialized by Pharming in Austria, Germany and The
Netherlands. From October 1,
2016, Pharming will also commercialize the product in
Algeria, Andorra, Bahrain, Belgium, France, Ireland, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Morocco, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Syria,
Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, United Arab
Emirates, United Kingdom
and Yemen.
RUCONEST® is distributed by Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (publ)
(SS: SOBI) in the other EU countries, and in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Norway, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine.
RUCONEST® is distributed in the United
States by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (NYSE:
VRX/TSX: VRX), following Valeant's acquisition of Salix
Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.
RUCONEST® is distributed in Argentina, Colombia, Costa
Rica, the Dominican
Republic, Panama and
Venezuela by Cytobioteck, in
South Korea by HyupJin Corporation
and in Israel by Megapharm.
RUCONEST® is also being investigated in a Phase II clinical
trial for the treatment of HAE in young children (2-13 years of
age) and evaluated for various additional follow-on
indications.
Pharming's technology platform includes a unique, GMP-compliant,
validated process for the production of pure recombinant human
proteins that has proven capable of producing industrial quantities
of high quality recombinant human proteins in a more economical and
less immunogenetic way compared with current cell-line based
methods. Leads for enzyme replacement therapy ("ERT") for Pompe and
Fabry's diseases are being optimized at present, with additional
programs not involving ERT also being explored at an early stage at
present.
Pharming has a long term partnership with the Shanghai Institute
of Pharmaceutical Industry ("SIPI"), a Sinopharm company, for joint
global development of new products, starting with recombinant human
Factor VIII for the treatment of Haemophilia A. Pre-clinical
development and manufacturing will take place to global standards
at SIPI and are funded by SIPI. Clinical development will be shared
between the partners with each partner taking the costs for their
territories under the partnership.
Pharming has declared that the
Netherlands is its "Home Member State" pursuant to the
amended article 5:25a paragraph 2 of the Dutch Financial
Supervision Act.
Additional information is available on the Pharming website:
http://www.pharming.com
Forward-looking Statements
This press release of Pharming Group
N.V. and its subsidiaries (“Pharming”, the “Company” or the
“Group”) may contain forward-looking statements including without
limitation those regarding Pharming’s financial projections, market
expectations, developments, partnerships, plans, strategies and
capital expenditures.
The Company cautions that such
forward-looking statements may involve certain risks and
uncertainties, and actual results may differ. Risks and
uncertainties include without limitation the effect of competitive,
political and economic factors, legal claims, the Company’s ability
to protect intellectual property, fluctuations in exchange and
interest rates, changes in taxation laws or rates, changes in
legislation or accountancy practices and the Company’s ability to
identify, develop and successfully commercialise new products,
markets or technologies.
As a result, the Company’s actual
performance, position and financial results and statements may
differ materially from the plans, goals and expectations set forth
in such forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no
obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information,
which should be taken as of their respective dates of issue, unless
required by laws or regulations.
Contact
Sijmen de Vries, CEO: T: +31-71-524-7400
Robin Wright, CFO: T:
+31-71-524-7432
FTI Consulting
Julia Phillip/ Victoria Foster Mitchell, T:
+44-203-727-1136