aibioCoherus Oncology takes $55,000,000 senior secured term loan to refinance debt
Tickers CHRS
Innovatus Life Sciences Lending Fund I, LP, is collateral agent on a loan that replaces an existing term loan and runs to August 2031, with interest-only payments for an initial 36 months.
Key facts
- Company
- Coherus Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHRS)
- News type
- Debt Financing
- Primary source
- SEC Form 8-K
Coherus Oncology, Inc. entered into a Loan and Security Agreement dated August 12, 2026 with Innovatus Life Sciences Lending Fund I, LP, as collateral agent, and other lenders that signed the agreement. The company reported the deal in a Form 8-K dated August 17, 2026. The filing does not name the other lenders. The agreement provides a senior secured term loan facility of $55,000,000, called the Tranche A Term Loan, with a maturity in August 2031. Coherus drew the full amount on August 14, 2026. It may also draw tranches of $25,000,000 and $20,000,000 under certain conditions.
The filing names no placement agent, underwriter or financial advisor, and it names no counsel.
Terms and fees
The loan accrues interest at a floating rate of 4.15% plus the greater of the Prime Rate and 6.75%. Payments are interest-only each month for an initial 36 months after the first funding date. That period can extend to 48 months if the borrowers reach specified revenue and market capitalization milestones before the 36-month anniversary. After the interest-only period, principal and interest are repaid in equal monthly payments over the rest of the term.
The fees are substantial. Coherus owes a facility fee of 1.50% of each term loan funded. A prepayment before maturity carries a fee of 5.00% of the principal prepaid, plus the interest that would accrue through the first anniversary of the funding date. That fee falls to 4.00% in the second year and 3.00% in the third, and to zero after the third anniversary. On repayment, acceleration or maturity, a final fee of 4.00% of the amount funded is due. That final fee rises to 10.00% if the company enters an insolvency proceeding and receives debtor-in-possession financing from certain financiers.
The loan is secured by substantially all assets of the borrowers, including intellectual property, subject to exclusions. It requires minimum unrestricted cash in collateral accounts. The filing does not state that minimum. The company says the new rate is lower than the old one, and that rolling over its debt extends maturity beyond the anticipated launch periods for its pipeline candidates.
What the loan replaces
Part of the proceeds repaid all obligations under the prior senior secured term loan. That loan carried interest at 8.0% plus a three-month SOFR rate and was scheduled to mature in May 2029. It was terminated on August 14, 2026, and its security interests were released. The filing does not state the balance repaid, so the company's "limited incremental increase in principal" cannot be sized from the 8-K. Coherus says the rest of the proceeds will fund working capital and general business needs.
The business and its finances
Coherus's commercial product is LOQTORZI (toripalimab-tpzi), a PD-1 inhibitor developed with Junshi Biosciences. The FDA approved it on October 27, 2023 for first-line nasopharyngeal carcinoma with cisplatin and gemcitabine, and for monotherapy after platinum-containing chemotherapy. The company launched it on January 2, 2024. The 10-K says LOQTORZI is the only immune checkpoint inhibitor approved for these indications that is commercially available in the United States. Its two mid-stage candidates are casdozokitug, an IL-27 antagonist in a randomized Phase 2 study in hepatocellular carcinoma, and tagmokitug, a CCR8 antibody in head and neck and Phase 1b studies. Neither has an approval.
Research and development expense was $108.9 million in 2025, up from $91.8 million in 2024. Net income was $168.0 million in 2025, against $28.5 million in 2024. Cash used in operations was $138.5 million in 2025, against $20.4 million in 2024. Operations nonetheless used cash.
Year-end cash and cash equivalents were $126.0 million in 2024 and $88.9 million in 2025, and short-term investments were $83.2 million at the end of 2025. At June 30, 2026, cash and cash equivalents were $82.9 million and short-term investments were $22.4 million.
Against $138.5 million of operating cash use in 2025 and $82.9 million of cash at June 30, 2026, the new loan adds secured debt with prepayment and final fees, and it pledges the intellectual property behind the pipeline.