BridgeBio Pharma has sold off over 9 million of its shares for $250 million, infusing the company with much-needed cash as it plans a commercial launch of the heart drug acoramidis.
The private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing was led by Qatar Investment Authority and included other existing and new investors. In total, California-based BridgeBio sold 9,167,723 shares of common stock at its Sept. 22 closing price of $27.27 per share. The biopharma’s stock has since dipped very slightly to $26.50 as of 9:30 a.m. ET this morning.
The genetic disease and oncology company expects to make $250 million off the sale before deducting offering costs, according to a Sept. 25 release. The financing is set to close Sept. 27.
The PIPE money will help fund BridgeBio’s future operations, including the hoped-for commercial launch of acoramidis and upcoming phase 3 readouts in achondroplasia, limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2I and autosomal dominant hypocalcemia type 1, CEO Neil Kumar, Ph.D., said in the release.
Acoramidis is initially aimed at treating a severe heart condition called transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM). After publishing an extra dive into its phase 3 data in August, BridgeBio reaffirmed plans to submit a new drug approval application to the FDA for acoramidis before the end of this year, with more submissions in additional markets set for 2024.
The company could enter the ATTR scene about a year after Alnylam’s Onpattro, which is already approved to treat ATTR polyneuropathy and is set to hear from the FDA about expanding the drug’s label to include ATTR-CM in early October.
BridgeBio expects the new money, in tandem with other “less dilutive financings available to the company,” to fully capitalize the biopharma to profitability, according to today's release. BridgeBio is also exploring other strategic options to fund the business, a mantra Kumar has maintained for at least the last year.
In 2022, when the bear market truly reared its head in biotech, Kumar told Fierce that BridgeBio was shedding any and all extra costs in an attempt to stay afloat. The company had already endured two rounds of layoffs after acoramidis suffered a phase 3 ATTR-CM flop in late 2021.
At issue was the six-minute walk test, where the placebo group outperformed the treatment group. Kumar said the drug “couldn't have ever really shown in the signal because everyone was walking, analogous to what a healthy volunteer would walk.” All secondary endpoints and key biomarker and biochemical markers suggested acoramidis had a statistically significant effect, he added at the time.
The company persisted with the drug in a separate phase 3 trial that produced the latest results in August. Soon we will see if BridgeBio’s dedication to its lead asset pays off as potential FDA approval—or denial—looms closer.