Acura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. entered into a Loan and Security Agreement with Oxford Finance LLC, pursuant to which Oxford agreed to make a term loan to the Company in the principal amount of $10.0 million. The loan has a fixed interest rate of 8.35% per annum with interest only payment for the first 15 months and repayment of all principal and interest by December 1, 2018. In addition, at maturity or earlier termination, the Company must pay Oxford an additional one-time interest payment of $795,000. As security for its obligations under the Loan Agreement, the Company granted Oxford a security interest in substantially all of its existing and after-acquired assets, exclusive of its intellectual property assets. The Company may use the proceeds of the Loan Agreement for general working capital and to fund its business requirements.

Acura's President and CEO, Bob Jones said, "We are pleased to secure this financing on favorable terms which gives us more flexibility to advance multiple development candidates concurrently and expand our Nexafed franchise."

Acura Pharmaceuticals is a specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the research, development and commercialization of product candidates intended to address medication abuse and misuse, utilizing its proprietary AVERSION® and IMPEDE® technologies. AVERSION contains polymers that cause the drug to gel when dissolved; it also contains compounds that irritate the nasal passages. IMPEDE is designed to disrupt the processing of pseudoephedrine from tablets into methamphetamine.

In June 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved OXECTA® (oxycodone HCl tablets) which incorporates the AVERSION® technology. The Company has a development pipeline of additional AVERSION technology products containing other opioids.

In December 2012, the Company commenced commercialization of NEXAFED® [pseudoephedrine hydrochloride (HCl)], a 30 mg immediate-release abuse-deterrent decongestant. The next generation pseudoephedrine tablet combines effective nasal congestion relief with IMPEDE technology, a unique polymer matrix that disrupts the conversion of pseudoephedrine into the dangerous drug, methamphetamine.