Mustang Bio, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company announced completion of a $75 million long-term debt facility with Runway Growth Capital, a leading provider of growth loans to both venture and non-venture backed companies seeking an alternative to raising equity.
“This financing provides us with enhanced financial flexibility as we continue to develop our gene and cell therapies in our fully integrated cell processing facility in Worcester, Mass. that has capacity to launch at commercial scale. We expect to initiate two Mustang-sponsored multicenter pivotal clinical trials and one Mustang-sponsored multicenter Phase 1/2 clinical trial in 2022. Additionally, we anticipate multiple investigator-IND gene and CAR T cell therapy interim data readouts across our pipeline this year,” said Manuel Litchman, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Mustang. “Partnering with Runway, a prominent provider of growth loans with an extensive history of supporting innovative life science companies, bolsters our cash position and supports Mustang’s growth trajectory while furthering our mission of bringing potentially life-saving treatments to patients in need.”
Igor DaCruz, Managing Director, Life Sciences at Runway, said, “We are pleased to partner with Mustang by providing capital to potentially help expedite the development of Mustang’s robust pipeline of cell and gene therapies targeting cancers and rare diseases.”
Thirty million of the $75 million loan was funded upon closing. The additional $45 million available under the facility may be funded upon Mustang’s achieving certain predetermined milestones. The loan will be repaid in 60 monthly payments consisting of 24 monthly payments of interest only, followed by 36 monthly payments of principal and accrued interest, and will be payable monthly in arrears, with all repayments ending on the same date as the initial tranche. The interest-only period may be extended to 36 months contingent upon Mustang’s achieving certain milestones. In connection with the debt financing, Mustang issued Runway warrants to purchase up to 748,036 of its common shares at an exercise price of $0.8021 per share. Proceeds from the facility will be used to support the ongoing clinical development of key investigational product candidates within Mustang's pipeline and for general working capital purposes.
Cantor Fitzgerald served as sole placement agent to Mustang in conjunction with this transaction.