Fate Therapeutics Secures Up to $20 Million in Debt Financing

Fate Therapeutics, Inc. FATE, -12.45% a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of adult stem cell modulators to treat orphan diseases, announced today that it has completed a long-term debt financing of up to $20 million with Silicon Valley Bank. The Company has drawn down $10 million, at a fixed interest rate of 6.9%, under the first tranche of the debt facility.

“This debt financing further secures the necessary cash resources to clinically validate our lead product candidate PROHEMA® across multiple disease franchises including adult and pediatric patients with hematologic malignancies and pediatric patients with inherited metabolic disorders,” said J. Scott Wolchko, Chief Financial & Operating Officer of Fate Therapeutics, Inc. “The additional capital also enables the Company to invest in, and achieve a number of important milestones in connection with, its pipeline of disease-altering hematopoietic- and muscle-based cellular therapeutics.”
Fate Therapeutics is currently enrolling patients in its Phase 2 PUMA study, a randomized, controlled clinical trial that is designed to assess the efficacy and safety of PROHEMA® (16, 16-dimethyl prostaglandin E2, or dmPGE2, modulated cord blood) in adult patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for the treatment of hematologic malignancies. Safety reviews are planned after six and 12 subjects, respectively, have been treated with PROHEMA® in the PUMA study, and the Company intends to provide a clinical update following the completion of these reviews. Full data on the primary efficacy endpoint from the PUMA study are expected in mid-2015. In addition, Fate Therapeutics has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct two clinical trials of PROHEMA® in pediatric patients undergoing HSCT. Both the Phase 1b PROMPT study for the treatment of hematologic malignancies and the Phase 1b PROVIDE study for the treatment of inherited metabolic disorders are expected to commence enrollment in the second half of 2014.

Silicon Valley Bank