Blackstone and Alnylam Enter Into $2 Billion Strategic Financing Collaboration to Accelerate the Advancement of RNAi Therapeutics
? RNAi Represents One of the Most Promising and Rapidly Advancing Frontiers in Biology and Drug Development Today with Potential to Transform Lives of Patients ?
? Blackstone Provides a Customized Investment at Scale to Enable Alnylam to Achieve Self-sustainable Financial Profile Without Need for Future Equity Financing ?
? Alnylam to Host Conference Call Today, Monday, April 13th, at 8:30 am ET ?
April 13, 2020 07:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time
NEW YORK & CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blackstone?(NYSE: BX) and?Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.?(Nasdaq: ALNY), the leading RNAi therapeutics company, today announced the companies have entered into a broad strategic collaboration under which Blackstone will provide up to $2 billion to support Alnylam?s advancement of innovative RNA interference (RNAi) medicines that have the potential to transform the lives of patients suffering from a range of debilitating diseases.
The deal is anchored by Blackstone?s purchase of 50 percent of the royalties owed to Alnylam on global sales of inclisiran, an investigational RNAi therapeutic for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia, currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Inclisiran is a twice-a-year, subcutaneously injected RNAi therapeutic that has been shown in a comprehensive Phase 3 program to reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or ?bad? cholesterol with an acceptable safety profile. If approved, this medicine is expected to help patients lower LDL cholesterol, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of mortality in the U.S. and globally. The strategic financing collaboration, led by Blackstone Life Sciences and GSO Capital Partners (?GSO?), Blackstone?s credit platform, is expected to enable Alnylam?s achievement of a self-sustainable financial profile without need for future equity financing, accelerating the commercial potential of Alnylam?s rapidly advancing product portfolio. The investment by multiple Blackstone businesses will support the development and delivery of promising medicines to the patients who need them and is one of the largest ever private financings of a biotech company. The transaction includes the inclisiran royalty monetization, corporate debt, purchase of Alnylam equity, and funding for certain R&D activities related to the clinical advancement of two Alnylam investigational RNAi therapeutic programs in cardiovascular disease. Specifically, the transaction is comprised of the following components:?a major scientific breakthrough that happens once every decade or so?
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- $1 billion in committed payments, led by Blackstone Life Sciences, to acquire 50 percent of Alnylam?s royalties and commercial milestones for inclisiran;
- Up to $750 million in a first lien senior secured term loan led by GSO;
- Up to $150 million from Blackstone Life Sciences for development of Alnylam?s cardiometabolic programs vutrisiran and ALN-AGT (to be established based upon a non-binding letter of intent);
- $100 million purchase of Alnylam common stock.