On the heels of success for its new heart drug (acoramidis) in Phase III, BridgeBio Pharma has raised up to $1.2B from Blue Owl Capital and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments). BridgeBio expects acoramidis will launch soon and become the “potential backbone of therapy for transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM),” according to the release.
In this deal, BridgeBio sold five percent royalties on sales of acoramidis in exchange for $500 million, and possibly more, upon FDA approval of the rare disease heart drug.
But BridgeBio also has a healthy pipeline of genetic and cancer candidates, including some aimed at limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, achondroplasia, FGFR+ cancers, and KRAS cancers. Transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy is a rare but severe cause of restrictive cardiomyopathy, caused by the accumulation of transthyretin fibrils in the myocardium. It can present with new or worsening heart failure or new conduction system disease.
“Our newly strengthened balance sheet will enable us to serve ATTR-CM patients with a well-resourced launch of acoramidis, as well as patients with genetic diseases more broadly with multiple Phase III readouts for blockbuster indications anticipated over the next few years,” said Brian Stephenson, PhD, CFA, chief financial officer of BridgeBio.
Acoramidis is a transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy stabilizer that inhibits dissociation of this protein in the heart. This condition is characterized by the deposition of misfolded monomeric transthyretin. Research shows, acoramidis leads to more than 90% stabilization across the dosing interval as measured ex vivo. BridgeBio submitted the new drug application (NDA) with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 5 December 2023.
There’s lots of reason to be excited about acoramidis. Last year, the company reported that acoramidis showed “highly statistically significant” improvement on the primary endpoint, a hierarchy of assessment that included all-cause mortality, cardiovascular-related hospitalization and a six-minute walk test, among others. That’s more than enough reason to fuel another round of drug development.
This collaboration includes A royalty agreement with Blue Owl and CPPIB Credit:
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- $500 million cash payment upon FDA approval of acoramidis to help support the Company’s commercial launch in exchange for future royalties of five percent of worldwide net sales of acoramidis, both of which are subject to various conditions. This consists of $300 million from Blue Owl and $200 million from CPPIB Credit
- Total royalty payments are capped at 1.9 times the invested capital, and the royalty agreement includes investment features (such as change of control provisions that apply prior to FDA approval) intended to provide broad strategic flexibility.
“Blue Owl is well-positioned to provide bespoke and scaled financing solutions to the most consequential companies in the life sciences sector,” said Sandip Agarwala, managing director at Blue Owl Capital.
“Acoramidis has demonstrated an impressive and differentiated clinical profile, and we believe it will be an important advancement in the treatment of ATTR-CM. Further, BridgeBio’s promising pipeline of late-stage targeted rare disease therapies address critical unmet needs in these underserved populations. We are pleased to support BridgeBio in its mission of bringing breakthrough medicines to patients.”
