On December 30, 2019 Myovant Sciences (NYSE: MYOV), a healthcare company focused on developing innovative treatments for women’s health and prostate cancer, reported the closing of the previously announced landmark, low-interest (3-month LIBOR plus 3%) loan facility from Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd. (TSE: 4506), now increased to $400 million (Press release, Myovant Sciences, DEC 30, 2019, https://investors.myovant.com/news-releases/news-release-details/myovant-sciences-announces-closing-400-million-loan-facility [SID1234552631]). The closing of the loan facility is concurrent with the transfer by Roivant Sciences of a majority of Myovant’s shares and four additional biopharmaceutical "Vant" companies to Sumitovant Biopharma Ltd. ("Sumitovant"), a newly-formed subsidiary of Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma as a result of the completion of their transaction for the creation of a significant multi-national Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma-Roivant Alliance. With the increase in its loan facility with Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, Myovant will repay its pre-existing loans from NovaQuest Capital Management and Hercules Capital (NYSE: HTGC). Concurrent with the transfer of Myovant’s shares, Hiroshi Nomura and Adele Gulfo have joined Myovant’s Board of Directors, while Vivek Ramaswamy and Frank Torti, M.D., have transitioned off.
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"It is with great pleasure that we welcome Hiroshi Nomura and Adele Gulfo to join our Board of Directors. They will bring valuable financial, strategic, and commercial expertise as Myovant approaches multiple potential commercial launches," said Lynn Seely, M.D., CEO of Myovant Sciences. "I sincerely thank Vivek Ramaswamy for his role in the formation and launch of Myovant, and both Vivek and Frank Torti for their contributions to Myovant’s success. Myovant is now in a much stronger financial position with the increased, low-interest loan facility from Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, which enables us to repay the NovaQuest and Hercules loans and thereby substantially lower our cost of capital and reset our debt maturities to 5 years."
Mr. Nomura has been President, CEO, and Representative Director of Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma since April 2018. Prior to his current role, Mr. Nomura served in a number of executive leadership roles at Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, including Board of Directors, Senior Executive Officer, and Chief Financial Officer from 2014 to 2018. From 2003 to 2014, he held various other positions with increasing responsibilities at Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma. He also served on the Board of Directors and as Vice Chairman, Executive Vice President, and Chief Financial Officer of Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. from 2012 to 2014. Mr. Nomura received a Bachelor of economics from the University of Tokyo.
Ms. Gulfo serves as the Chief Business and Commercial Development Officer at Sumitovant. Prior to joining Sumitovant, from May 2018 to December 2019, Ms. Gulfo served as Chief of Commercial Development at Roivant Sciences. Previously, from 2014 to 2018, she was Chief Strategy Officer, Executive Vice President, and Head of Global Commercial Development at Mylan. From 2009 to 2014, she served in a number of executive leadership roles at Pfizer, including President and General Manager of the U.S. primary care business and President of Latin America. She also currently serves on the Board of Directors of EnPro Industries and Medexus Pharma. Ms. Gulfo received a B.S. from Seton Hall University and a M.B.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Myovant also announced the promotions of Frank Karbe to President and Chief Financial Officer and Matthew Lang to Chief Administrative and Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary.
Mr. Karbe joined Myovant in 2017 as Chief Financial Officer. He previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Exelixis from 2004 to 2014. Earlier in his career, he worked as an investment banker for Goldman Sachs & Co. Frank currently serves on the Board of Directors of Aduro Biotech. He received his Diplom-Kaufmann from the WHU-Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management, Koblenz, Germany.
Mr. Lang joined Myovant in 2017 as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Previously, from 2009 to 2017, he worked at Gilead Sciences where he served most recently as Vice President, Head of Global Litigation, Investigations, Employment Law and Information Governance. Prior to Gilead, he practiced law at Dechert LLP in New York City. Mr. Lang received his B.A. in classical studies from Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.