On June 30, 2022 Blueprint Medicines Corporation (NASDAQ: BPMC) reported strategic financing collaborations with Sixth Street and Royalty Pharma (NASDAQ: RPRX) for up to $1.25 billion, bringing significant non-dilutive, low-cost capital to drive innovation and growth (Press release, Blueprint Medicines, JUN 30, 2022, View Source [SID1234616405]).
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These tailored investments by two highly respected life sciences-focused investors capitalize on Blueprint Medicines’ significant accomplishments to date and add strategic financial partners who are aligned with the company’s growth ambitions and confidence in the anticipated commercial opportunity and launch performance of AYVAKIT/AYVAKYT (avapritinib) and GAVRETO (pralsetinib). The financings provide capital to expand and advance the company’s robust and diverse pipeline towards commercialization and to continue pursuing strategic and synergistic business development opportunities.
"This attractive deal puts Blueprint Medicines in a very strong financial position to drive rapid growth while maintaining our path to profitability in the coming years. The combination of our strong cash position, multiple drivers of top-line revenue, and diversity of important pipeline programs uniquely positions us to continue building a leading precision therapy company and bring transformative medicines to patients worldwide," said Kate Haviland, Chief Executive Officer of Blueprint Medicines. "Executing this deal with such favorable terms in the current market environment speaks to the quality of the assets, the aligned confidence in the commercial opportunities, and the investment opportunity that Blueprint Medicines represents overall for firms like Sixth Street and Royalty Pharma, with whom we are building long-term strategic relationships."
This multi-component deal is comprised of the following elements:
The agreement with Sixth Street has three parts:
$250 million cash upfront in exchange for future AYVAKIT/AYVAKYT and BLU-263 royalties at a rate of 9.75 percent subject to an annual cap of $900 million in net sales and a cumulative cap of 1.45 times invested capital;
Up to $400 million in a senior secured credit facility, of which Blueprint Medicines will draw $150 million initially with an additional $250 million available in delayed draw tranches at Blueprint Medicines’ election; and
$260 million in a potential credit facility to support buy-side business development opportunities, subject to mutual agreement between Sixth Street and Blueprint Medicines.
The agreement with Royalty Pharma monetizes royalties receivable from GAVRETO net sales by Roche outside of the US, not including Greater China, with $175 million cash paid to Blueprint Medicines upfront and up to $165 million in potential milestone payments based on future sales.
"Blueprint Medicines is an impressive and differentiated biopharmaceutical company, with a proven track record of success in developing and commercializing precision therapies. We are particularly excited about the opportunity for AYVAKIT to meet the substantial need in patients with non-advanced systemic mastocytosis," said Vijay Mohan and Jeff Pootoolal, Partners at Sixth Street. "We believe that investing now, when the company is already in a strong financial position, is the first step toward a long-term relationship that will open the door to further potential opportunities for growth and partnership."
"GAVRETO is an important precision therapy that has been incredibly meaningful for patients with metastatic, RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer who may have otherwise had limited options," said Pablo Legorreta, Royalty Pharma’s founder and Chief Executive Officer. "We are pleased to establish a partnership with the experienced team at Blueprint Medicines to help fuel their execution on the significant commercial and development opportunities they have ahead."
Cowen and Company served as financial advisor and Goodwin Procter LLP served as legal advisor to Blueprint Medicines. Cooley LLP acted as legal advisors to Sixth Street. Gibson Dunn acted as legal advisors to Royalty Pharma.
Investor Conference Call Information
Blueprint Medicines will host a live conference call and webcast at 8:30 a.m. ET today to discuss the collaborations. The conference call may be accessed by dialing 844-200-6205 (domestic) or 929-526-1599 (international), and referring to conference ID 658541. A webcast of the call will also be available under "Events and Presentations" in the Investors & Media section of the Blueprint Medicines website at View Source The archived webcast will be available on Blueprint Medicines’ website approximately two hours after the conference call and will be available for 30 days following the call.
About AYVAKIT (avapritinib)
AYVAKIT (avapritinib) is a kinase inhibitor approved by the FDA for the treatment of adults with Advanced SM, including aggressive SM (ASM), SM with an associated hematological neoplasm (SM-AHN) and mast cell leukemia (MCL), and adults with unresectable or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) harboring a PDGFRA exon 18 mutation, including PDGFRA D842V mutations. For more information, visit AYVAKIT.com. Under the brand name AYVAKYT (avapritinib), this medicine is approved by the European Commission for the treatment of adults with ASM, SM-AHN or MCL, after at least one systemic therapy, and adults with unresectable or metastatic GIST harboring the PDGFRA D842V mutation.
AYVAKIT/AYVAKYT is not approved for the treatment of any other indication in the U.S. or Europe.
Blueprint Medicines is developing AYVAKIT globally for the treatment of advanced and non-advanced SM. The FDA granted breakthrough therapy designation to AYVAKIT for the treatment of moderate to severe indolent SM. The European Commission granted orphan medicinal product designation for AYVAKYT for the treatment of GIST and mastocytosis.
Please click here to see the full U.S. Prescribing Information for AYVAKIT, and click here to see the European Summary of Product Characteristics for AYVAKYT.
About GAVRETO (pralsetinib)
GAVRETO (pralsetinib) is a once-daily oral targeted therapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of three indications: adult patients with metastatic RET fusion-positive NSCLC as detected by an FDA approved test, adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older with advanced or metastatic RET-mutant medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) who require systemic therapy, and adults and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older with advanced or metastatic RET fusion-positive thyroid cancer who require systemic therapy and who are radioactive iodine-refractory (if radioactive iodine is appropriate). These indications are approved under accelerated approval based on overall response rate and duration of response. Continued approval for these indications may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials. In addition, GAVRETO is approved by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) of China for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic RET fusion-positive NSCLC after platinum-based chemotherapy.
GAVRETO is not approved for the treatment of any other indication in the U.S. by the FDA or in China by the NMPA, or for any indication in any other jurisdiction by any other health authority.
GAVRETO is designed to selectively and potently target oncogenic RET alterations, including secondary RET mutations predicted to drive resistance to treatment. In preclinical studies, GAVRETO inhibited RET at lower concentrations than other pharmacologically relevant kinases, including VEGFR2, FGFR2 and JAK2. For more information, visit GAVRETO.com.
Blueprint Medicines and Roche are co-developing GAVRETO globally (excluding Greater China) for the treatment of patients with RET-altered NSCLC, various types of thyroid cancer and other solid tumors. The European Medicines Agency validated a marketing authorization application for GAVRETO for the treatment of RET fusion-positive NSCLC. The FDA granted breakthrough therapy designation to GAVRETO for the treatment of RET fusion-positive NSCLC that has progressed following platinum-based chemotherapy and for RET mutation-positive MTC that requires systemic treatment and for which there are no acceptable alternative treatments.
Please click here to see the full U.S. Prescribing Information for GAVRETO.