BioCentury
ARTICLE | Financial News

Vivus raises $220M in note offering

May 17, 2013 1:32 AM UTC

Vivus Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS) raised $220 million through the sale of 4.5% unsecured senior convertible notes due May 1, 2020. The notes initially convert at $14.86, which is a 9% premium to Vivus' close of $13.59 on Tuesday, before the company proposed to raise $200 million in the offering. Vivus markets obesity drug Qsymia phentermine/topiramate in the U.S. Last week, Vivus disclosed in a conference call to discuss its 1Q13 earnings that it began discussions with large pharmas on how to "maximiz[e] the value" of the low-dose combination of phentermine and topiramate. Vivus launched Qsymia in the U.S. in September, but sales have disappointed (see BioCentury Extra, May 8). ...