Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Completes $27.5 Million Debt Refinancing

Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has secured a $27.5 million debt financing facility through Oxford Finance. Pacira will use the proceeds from this financing to refinance the remaining principal of its outstanding term loan and for general corporate purposes. The refinancing allows Pacira to defer the first monthly payment of principal until December 1, 2013. In addition, the refinancing was achieved at a lower interest rate compared to the existing term loan rate and the interest rate is fixed, eliminating any future interest rate risk. 

"This debt refinancing, coupled with our recently announced equity financing that resulted in $63.2 million of net proceeds, secures the strong balance sheet that we need to fully leverage the value-generating opportunities inherent in EXPAREL(R) (bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension)," said James S. Scibetta, chief financial officer of Pacira. "We recently launched EXPAREL in the United States, and we will have six quarters of sales behind us by the time our initial monthly principal obligation begins at the end of 2013. Our reinforced balance sheet should also allow us to expand the indications for EXPAREL and pursue potential ex-U.S. partnerships from a position of strength." 

The facility includes an interest rate of 9.75% and requires monthly interest-only payments until December 2013, followed by a 30-month principal amortization period. In addition, Oxford Finance will receive warrants to purchase an aggregate of 162,885 shares of Pacira common stock at an exercise price of $10.97. 

The description of the debt financing in this press release does not purport to be a complete description. The statements in this press release are qualified in their entirety by reference to the description of the debt financing transaction contained in a Current Report on Form 8-K filed by Pacira with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the debt financing documents that will be attached as exhibits to the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that will be filed by Pacira with the SEC.

Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Provides Update on Commercial Launch and Product Availability Timing for EXPAREL(R)

Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today provided updated timing for its commercial launch of EXPAREL(R) (bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension), a non-opioid analgesic that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for administration into the surgical site to produce postsurgical analgesia.Since FDA approval of EXPAREL in October 2011, Pacira has continued to execute its pre-commercial launch strategy focused on the broad hospital market and has undertaken initiatives to expand and enhance its ability to efficiently manufacture commercial quantities of EXPAREL.As planned, Pacira has hired and trained a sales force and will proceed with a formulary-access driven launch strategy, beginning with a national sales meeting this week. Due to commercial manufacturing challenges, which Pacira is confident it can address, the company projects product availability in April 2012, by which time Pacira expects it will have manufactured sufficient product to meet customer demands at launch."Our goal is to ensure that we have an appropriate commercial supply of EXPAREL to support anticipated demand for the product following our launch," said Dave Stack, president and chief executive officer of Pacira. "We are encouraged by the positive response we have received following FDA approval of EXPAREL and our organization is focused on our commercial manufacturing processes. With the recent appointment of John Pratt to the newly created role of general manager for our San Diego manufacturing facility, we believe we have added leadership who will directly contribute to our ability to meet our goals. John has more than 35 years of experience in building and leading state-of-the art pharmaceutical manufacturing and quality control organizations including senior positions at Amylin and Novo Nordisk, and his expertise will be valuable as we execute our manufacturing strategy. We are very excited about EXPAREL and the role it can play in optimizing postsurgical pain management and look forward to bringing this product to the market."