ANN ARBOR — Esperion Theapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ESPR), the developer of a new class of cholesterol-fighting drugs, has announced the intention to sell $85 million of its stock in a public offering.
Esperion says it will use the proceeds from the offering to fund the continued development of its top drug candidate, now called ETC-1002, through Phase 3 clinical studies. The money will also be used for chemistry, manufacturing and controls scale-up for commercial sale of the drug, other regulatory compliance expenses, working capital, and general corporate and administrative costs.
ETC-1002 has shown promise in earlier stage clinical trial in lowering the so-called bad cholesterol and other cardiac risk factors, without some of the side effects reported by some users of today’s statin drugs, including muscle pain and weakness.
Esperion also plans to grant the underwriters an option for 30 days after the sale to buy up to $12.8 million more of Esperion stock if there’s sufficient demand.
J.P. Morgan and BofA Merrill Lynch are acting as joint book-running managers for the proposed offering.
A preliminary prospectus supplement related to the offering and a final prospectus will be filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and will be available soon at www.sec.gov or from the underwriters.
More at www.esperion.com.