GE Healthcare finances EKR cardiovascular pharma portfolio for $95M

GE Healthcare Financial Services has provided a $95 million senior secured credit facility to EKR Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company focused on products for the acute care setting.

EKR will use the debt financing for working capital and to acquire certain cardiovascular assets, including the currently marketed Cardene (nicardipine hydrochloride), indicated for angina and hypertension, and Retavase (reteplase), indicated for use in the management of acute myocardial infarction. 

“GE Healthcare Financial Services was able to quickly meet our financing needs and enable EKR to move forward on a transformational acquisition that substantially accelerates EKR’s growth prospects,” said Howard Weisman, CEO and chairman of EKR. “It is clear that GE understands the pharmaceutical space and their ability to get deals done in a difficult financial market with limited liquidity is second to none.”

The $95 million total cash flow facility involved a $15 million revolver and $80 million Term Loan A financing, according to the Chicago-based EKR.

Around the web

RBMA President Peter Moffatt discusses some of the biggest obstacles facing the specialty in the new year. 

Deepak Bhatt, MD, director of the Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital and principal investigator of the TRANSFORM trial, explains an emerging technique for cardiac screening: combining coronary CT angiography with artificial intelligence for plaque analysis to create an approach similar to mammography.

A total of 16 cardiology practices from 12 states settled with the DOJ to resolve allegations they overbilled Medicare for imaging agents used to diagnose cardiovascular disease.