aibioAbeona Therapeutics cuts term loan rate to 11.75% and issues Avenue warrants
Tickers ABEO
Abeona Therapeutics lowered the rate on its senior secured term loan from 13.5% to a fixed 11.75% and gave the Avenue lenders warrants for up to 16,474 shares at $6.07. Its 2024 net loss was $63.7 million, and its 10-K says $98.1 million in year-end cash and investments, plus later at-the-market proceeds, covers at least 12 months from issuance.
Key facts
- Company
- Abeona Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: ABEO)
- News type
- Debt Financing
- Primary source
- ABEONA THERAPEUTICS INC. Form 8-K filed July 18, 2025 (SEC EDGAR)
Abeona Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ABEO) cut the interest rate on its senior secured term loan and issued new warrants to its lenders. The change is in an amendment to the loan agreement with two Avenue funds, disclosed in a Form 8-K filed July 18, 2025. The amendment restates the "Designated Rate" for each Growth Capital Loan as a fixed 11.75% a year, down from 13.5%.
The amendment
Abeona and its subsidiaries, MacroChem Corporation and Abeona Therapeutics LLC, signed the amendment on July 18, 2025. It amends the Loan and Security Agreement and the Supplement to that agreement, both dated January 8, 2024. Avenue Venture Opportunities Fund, L.P. is the administrative agent and collateral agent. Avenue Venture Opportunities Fund II, L.P. is a second lender. The amendment says its changes are "limited precisely as written," and it does not waive any other term of the loan.
The 8-K does not state the principal amount outstanding under the loan. The amendment takes effect once the lenders and the agent receive the signed amendment, the signed warrants, and reimbursement of their fees and expenses, including reasonable documented attorneys' fees. The borrowers represent that no Event of Default has occurred and is continuing.
The warrants
The amendment gives the lenders warrants for up to 16,474 shares of Abeona common stock, split between the two Avenue funds, at an exercise price of $6.07 per share. The warrants expire on July 18, 2030. Holders can pay cash at the exercise price or use a cashless exercise under a formula in the warrants. The warrants adjust for stock dividends, stock splits and reverse stock splits.
If a change of control values a share at or below two times the exercise price, the holders would be entitled to receive the underlying shares without paying the exercise price.
The 8-K names no placement agent, financial advisor or law firm for the amendment. It lists Avenue as the agent and lender, and it lists the warrants as Exhibits 4.1 and 4.2 and the amendment as Exhibit 10.1.
Losses and cash
The annual report on Form 10-K, filed March 20, 2025, reports net losses of $63.7 million for 2024 and $54.2 million for 2023. The accumulated deficit was $813.3 million at December 31, 2024. The company has funded operations primarily through sales of its stock.
The 10-K says the company evaluated whether conditions raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern and concluded that its capital resources are sufficient for at least the next 12 months from the issuance date. The figure behind that view is $98.1 million in cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments at December 31, 2024, plus $4.8 million in net proceeds from later sales under an at-the-market agreement. The 10-K also says the company's liquidity could be materially affected over that period. The 12-month window is measured from the March 2025 issuance date.
The pipeline
Abeona describes itself as a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing cell and gene therapies for life-threatening diseases. Its lead program is prademagene zamikeracel, or pz-cel, an autologous cell-based gene therapy for recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. The FDA issued a Complete Response Letter on the pz-cel Biologics License Application in April 2024, citing chemistry, manufacturing and controls information. Abeona resubmitted in October 2024, and the FDA accepted the resubmission in November 2024 with a target action date of April 29, 2025.
The 8-K does not mention the outcome of that review. The 10-K, filed before the April 29, 2025 target date, gives that date as the review's deadline. The company also plans to keep developing adeno-associated virus gene therapies for eye diseases, using capsids licensed from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The signatories
Chief Financial Officer Joseph Vazzano signed the 8-K for Abeona. In the amendment he also signed for MacroChem Corporation and Abeona Therapeutics LLC as treasurer. Sonia Gardner, a member of Avenue Venture Opportunities Partners, LLC, the general partner of each fund, signed for the Avenue lenders.