Assertio Therapeutics Announces Sale of NUCYNTA Franchise to Collegium Pharmaceutical for $375.0 Million

Assertio Therapeutics announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc. pursuant to which Collegium will acquire the NUCYNTA franchise of products from the Company. The closing of the agreement is expected by February 14, 2020.

Under the terms of the agreement, Collegium will pay Assertio $375.0 million in cash at closing, less royalties paid to Assertio in 2020. Collegium will also pay Assertio for certain inventories and equipment relating to the products. The Company intends to use cash proceeds retire its outstanding debt.

“A key element of Assertio’s transformation over the last several years has been its focus on aggressive de-leveraging. We have done that successfully by consistently delivering strong bottom line performance and today we look to end that journey. With this transaction, our goal is to retire our outstanding debt and have approximately $50.0 million of cash on our balance sheet. We will use this new flexibility to pursue business development, strategic partnerships and investment opportunities with the goal of having our remaining business becoming cash flow and EBITDA positive by the end of the year,” said Arthur Higgins, President and Chief Executive Officer of Assertio.

“We have enjoyed a great commercial partnership with Collegium and it became clear that they would be the ideal long-term home for the NUCYNTA franchise, given their position as the leader in responsible pain management and the synergistic fit of the NUCYNTA franchise in their portfolio.”

Stifel acted as exclusive financial advisor to Assertio in this transaction and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Greenberg Traurig LLP served as legal counsel.

The Company is also announcing that it is no longer pursuing the development of long-acting cosyntropin. Based on discussions with our partner West Therapeutic Development, Inc., the Company has determined that development of this asset is no longer feasible in a timely manner.

Additional details can be found in the Company’s Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.