On June 26, 2023 ORIC Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ORIC), a clinical stage oncology company focused on developing treatments that address mechanisms of therapeutic resistance, reported that it has agreed to sell approximately 12.1 million shares of its common stock (or pre-funded warrants in lieu thereof) to a select group of institutional and accredited healthcare specialist investors in a private placement, at a price per share of $7.00, representing a premium of approximately 15% to ORIC’s 30-day volume-weighted average price and approximately 8% to the closing price on June 23, 2023 (Press release, ORIC Pharmaceuticals, JUN 26, 2023, View Source [SID1234632901]). The pre-funded warrants will have an exercise price of $0.0001 per share of common stock, will be immediately exercisable, and will remain exercisable until exercised in full. The financing is expected to close on June 27, 2023, subject to customary closing conditions. ORIC anticipates the gross proceeds from the private placement to be approximately $85 million, before deducting any offering related expenses.
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The financing includes participation from new and existing institutional investors and is being led by Nextech1 with participation from EcoR1 Capital, Frazier Life Sciences, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, and Boxer Capital. Participating investors entered into confidentiality agreements and executed lock-up agreements with ORIC to restrict their ability to sell ORIC shares.
"As the competitive profiles of multiple of our clinical programs begin to emerge with respect to internally generated data and competitor updates, the added financial firepower provided by this blue-chip syndicate of investors, both new and existing and with whom we’ve had longstanding relationships, allows us to aggressively advance our pipeline for the benefit of patients," said Jacob M. Chacko, MD, chief executive officer. "The extended cash runway positions us well, and we look forward to presenting initial clinical data from our three clinical programs over the coming quarters while continuing to advance our mission of overcoming resistance in cancer."
"We are thrilled to become long-term partners to ORIC’s ambitious management team at this critical inflection point as they look to accelerate the development of their pipeline of differentiated programs with clinical profiles that are now emerging," said Kanishka Pothula, Partner at Nextech. "We believe that this team’s broad capabilities spanning discovery research, translational expertise, thoughtfully-designed clinical trials, and strong business development networks, combined with their data driven decision-making and financial discipline, uniquely position ORIC to achieve meaningful impact on patients’ lives."
ORIC anticipates the following upcoming milestones:
ORIC-114: Report initial safety, PK/PD, and preliminary antitumor activity data from ongoing single agent Phase 1b study in patients with EGFR/HER2-mutated cancers in the second half of 2023.
ORIC-533: Report initial safety, PK/PD, and preliminary antitumor activity data from ongoing single agent Phase 1b study in patients with multiple myeloma in the second half of 2023.
ORIC-944: Report initial safety, PK/PD, and preliminary antitumor activity data from ongoing single agent Phase 1b study in patients with prostate cancer in the first quarter of 2024.
ORIC intends to use the net proceeds from the proposed financing to fund research and development of its clinical-stage product candidates and research programs and for working capital and general corporate purposes. The proceeds from this financing, combined with current cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, is expected to be sufficient to fund the current operating plan into late 2025.
The securities described above have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Accordingly, these securities may not be offered or sold in the United States, except pursuant to an effective registration statement or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. ORIC has agreed to file a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") registering the resale of the shares of common stock and the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the pre-funded warrants issued in this private placement. Any offering of the securities under the resale registration statement will only be made by means of a prospectus.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.