aibioInhibrx Biosciences closes Oxford Finance loan of up to $150 million, funds $100 million
Tickers INBX
The five-year facility pays interest only until March 2028. Oxford also received warrants for 140,741 shares at $14.21 per share.
Key facts
- Company
- Inhibrx Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: INBX)
- News type
- Debt Financing
- Primary source
- Inhibrx Biosciences, Inc. 8-K (2025-01-13)
The loan
Inhibrx Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: INBX) announced on January 13, 2025 that it entered into a loan and security agreement with Oxford Finance LLC and certain of its affiliates, which the press release calls the Lenders. Under the agreement, the Lenders provided a five-year term loan facility for up to $150 million, called the Credit Facility. The facility closed on January 13, 2025, which the document defines as the Closing Date.
Inhibrx received an initial Term Loan of $100 million, funded on the Closing Date. A further $50 million may be made available at the company's request, but only subject to the Lenders' discretion. That second tranche is therefore not committed. Repayment is interest-only until March 2028. The release gives no interest rate, no fees and no final maturity date beyond the five-year term, and it does not say what the proceeds will pay for. It names no placement agent or other adviser, and it does not name counsel to the company or to the Lenders.
The warrants
As part of the agreement, Inhibrx issued to the Lenders warrants to purchase an aggregate of 140,741 shares of its common stock. The release says that number equals 2% of the value of the initial term loan divided by a strike price of $14.21 per share. Additional warrants will become issuable in connection with any additional funding by the Lenders, so a draw on the second tranche would bring more dilution on top of the shares already covered. The release does not give the warrants' term or any other conditions.
What the executives said
Chief Financial Officer Kelly Deck said in the release: "This enables us strategic flexibility post data readouts expected later this year for our INBRX-109 and INBRX-106 programs." Deck added that Oxford has been a great partner throughout the company's evolution and that the company is pleased to continue the relationship. Christopher Herr, Senior Managing Director at Oxford, called it a long-standing partnership with Inhibrx and said the two programs have shown highly promising clinical results. That is the lender's description. The release does not report any trial data to support it, and the data readouts that Deck mentions are still ahead.
The borrower and its pipeline
Inhibrx Biosciences describes itself as a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing a broad pipeline of novel biologic therapeutic candidates, using protein engineering platforms. It was incorporated in January 2024 as a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of Inhibrx, Inc. Before the sale of Inhibrx, Inc. and the INBRX-101 program to Sanofi S.A., Inhibrx Biosciences acquired certain corporate infrastructure and other assets and liabilities through a series of internal restructuring transactions. Inhibrx, Inc. also distributed 92% of the issued and outstanding shares of Inhibrx Biosciences to holders of its common stock.
After those transactions, the company's clinical pipeline consists of ozekibart (INBRX-109) and INBRX-106. Both use multivalent formats in which the precise valency can be optimized in a target-centric way. The company says it believes this mediates the most appropriate agonist function. Both programs have key data readouts expected in 2025, and the company describes itself as having two programs in ongoing clinical trials. That leaves the business dependent on two candidates, with the debt taken on before either readout.
The lender
Oxford Finance LLC describes itself as a specialty finance firm that provides senior secured loans to public and private life sciences, healthcare services, healthtech, business services and SaaS companies worldwide. It says it has delivered financing to over 700 companies over more than 20 years and has originated more than $14 billion in loans since 2002. It is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, with offices serving the greater San Diego, San Francisco, Boston and New York City areas. The release refers readers to the company's Form 10 registration statement, its S-1 and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for its risk factors, and it does not include a cash balance or an operating loss figure for the company.