Avenue Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company” or “Avenue”) was incorporated in Delaware on February 9, 2015, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Fortress Biotech, Inc. (“Fortress”), to develop and market pharmaceutical products for the acute care setting in the United States. The Company is focused on developing its product candidate, an intravenous (“IV”) formulation of tramadol HCI (“IV Tramadol”), for moderate to moderately severe post-operative pain.

 

 

On November 12, 2018, the Company and InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“InvaGen”), entered into definitive agreements with two closing stages for a proposed acquisition of the Company for a total aggregate consideration of $215.0 million. The Stock Purchase and Merger Agreement (the “SPMA”) was approved by a majority of the Company’s stockholders, including a majority of its non-affiliated stockholders, at its special shareholder meeting on February 6, 2019. On February 8, 2019, InvaGen acquired 5,833,333 shares of the Company’s common stock at $6.00 per share (the

Stock Purchase Transaction”) for net proceeds of $31.5 million after deducting commission fees and other offering costs, representing a 33.3% stake in the Company’s capital stock on a fully diluted basis.

 

At the second stage closing, InvaGen will acquire the remaining shares of Avenue’s common stock, pursuant to a reverse triangular merger with Avenue remaining as the surviving entity, for up to $180.0 million in the aggregate (the

Merger Transaction”). The second stage closing is subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions, including conditions pertaining to U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, labeling, scheduling and the absence of any Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy or similar restrictions in effect with respect to IV Tramadol, as well as the expiration of any waiting period applicable to the acquisition under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended.

 

Subject to the terms and conditions described in the SPMA, InvaGen may also provide interim financing to the Company in an amount of up to $7.0 million during the time period between the Stock Purchase Transaction (which occurred on February 8, 2019) and the Merger Transaction. Any amounts drawn on the interim financing will be deducted from the aggregate consideration payable to the Company’s stockholders by virtue of the Merger Transaction. There have been no amounts drawn upon this interim financing as of March 31, 2019.

 

 

The Company has incurred substantial operating losses since its inception and expects to continue to incur significant operating losses for the foreseeable future as it executes on its product development plan and may never become profitable. As of March 31, 2019, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $53.5 million. The Company believes that its cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2019, as well as its ability for interim financing of $7.0 million from InvaGen, will enable the Company to continue to fund operations in the normal course of business for more than a twelve-month period from the date of filing this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.