Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Indevus takes in $105M in stock sale

By Mass High Tech Staff

Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc. closed on a $105 million private placement, with notes that are secured by royalty payments derived from its overactive bladder drugs Sanctura and Sanctura XR. The sale of the notes will be used to pay off outstanding debt and fund operations in 2010, the company said.

Lexington-based Indevus (Nasdaq: IDEV) jointly co-promotes the drugs with Irvine, Calif.-based Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) through a license agreement. Indevus will receive 12.5 percent of its sales in the U.S. Indevus launched the extended release (XR) formulation of Sanctura in January and is under review in Europe. The company anticipates its approval in 2009.

The financing comes at a critical time for Indevus. In June, the company’s stock dropped more than 60 percent after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requested additional safety data on the firm’s testosterone drug Nebido, delaying a ruling on the product’s approval by at least two years, company officials said.

The delays forced the firm’s CEO Glen Cooper from postponing his retirement, planned for September. The issue also caused the company to realign its management team, with Indevus’ president and chief operating officer Thomas Farb and Kurt Lewis, senior vice president of sales and marketing, asked to resign.
 
Indevus reported a 2007 net loss of $103.8 million on revenue of $66.1 million. The company employs 251 workers.