Protalix Biotherapeutics Inc. (NYSE:PLX; TASE: PLX) announced today that it plans offering a $60 million convertible note to institutional investors in the US repayable in 2018. At the same time the company will also offer a further nine million notes, exercisable 30 days after the pricing date of the notes offering.
Protalix has concluded a range of major deals recently, the most important of which was an agreement with the Brazilian Ministry of Health to provide its Gaucher treatment Uplyso and technology transfer to the Brazilian government to build a factory to produce the drug. The company expects revenue of at least $280 million over the next eight years from this deal.
The Gaucher treatment has US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval as Elelyso and is marketed through a commercialization agreement with Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE; LSE: PFZ). However, the treatment has been rejected by the European authorities.
Elelyso is the first plant cell-expressed drug derived from ProCellEx, Protalix's proprietary plant cell-based protein expression system.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 12, 2013
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