SAN DIEGO, Sept. 18, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Metacrine, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on building an innovative pipeline of best-in-class drugs to treat liver and gastrointestinal (GI) diseases, today announced it has entered into a loan and security agreement for up to $50 million with K2 HealthVentures (K2HV), a healthcare-focused specialty finance company.
“This financing bolsters our capital position and flexibility as we enter a period of accelerated activity around the advancement of our best-in-class FXR agonists for treating non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and inflammatory bowel disease,” said Ken Song, Chief Executive Officer of Metacrine. “We chose to partner with K2HV because they are an experienced team of healthcare investment professionals who appreciate our desire to strategically deploy capital for clinical development as well as opportunistically expand our pipeline.”
The non-dilutive financing agreement provides Metacrine with $10 million of proceeds up front, and the option to draw additional tranches based on the achievement of certain milestones through 2020. Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance the company’s FXR agonist program and to support other general corporate activities.
“We are pleased to work with Metacrine to support the advancement of its pipeline, including its novel portfolio of FXR agonists, which have the potential to emerge as leading therapies for NASH and GI conditions,” said Anup Arora, Founding Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of K2HV. “This transaction is aligned with our strategy of partnering with innovative life sciences and healthcare companies and offering flexible, customized financing solutions.”
About Metacrine
Metacrine is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on building an innovative pipeline of best-in-class drugs to treat liver and gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. The most advanced program is focused on the farnesoid X receptor (FXR) an important drug target in multiple liver and GI diseases. Beyond the FXR program, a pipeline of novel drug candidates against other drug targets is being explored by taking advantage of internal drug discovery and development capabilities. Privately held Metacrine is headquartered in San Diego, California. For additional information, please visit www.metacrine.com.
About K2 HealthVentures
K2 HealthVentures is an alternative investment firm focused on providing flexible, long-term financing solutions to innovative private and public companies in the life sciences and healthcare industries. The investment team is comprised of collaborative, experienced professionals with diverse backgrounds in finance and operations, as well as deep domain knowledge across various healthcare sectors. A uniquely flexible, permanent capital structure enables the firm to provide creative, adaptive financing solutions and meet the evolving capital needs of its portfolio companies as they grow. K2HV is driven by dual goals of Profit and Purpose – aiming to fuel the growth of innovative companies that will ultimately improve the lives of patients and giving a percentage of investment profits back to underserved areas in healthcare. www.k2hv.com
Contacts:
Metacrine
Inquiries:
Trisha Millican
Chief Financial Officer
858.369.7800
tmillican@metacrine.com
K2 HealthVentures
Inquiries:
Parag Shah
contact@k2hv.com
or
Media:
George MacDougall
gmacdougall@macbiocom.com