Acura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Secures Financing to Fund Pivotal Phase III Clinical Trial for Lead Aversion(R) Technology Product...( PALATINE IL Aug. 20 /- Acura Phar...),Health

PALATINE, IL, Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Acura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: ACUR) (the "Company") today announced it has entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement (the "Agreement"), with an investor group comprised of Vivo Ventures Fund VI L.P., Vivo Ventures Fund VI Affiliates Fund, L.P., GCE Holdings LLC and certain individual investors (the "Investors"). Pursuant to the Agreement, the Investors purchased 23,605,551 Units ("Units") at a price of $1.08 per Unit with each Unit consisting of four shares of the Company's common stock, $0.01 par value, and a warrant to purchase one share of common stock. 13,842,590 of the Units were purchased for cash, with the balance of 9,962,961 Units issued in consideration for the conversion of all of the Company's $10.544 million in outstanding bridge loan indebtedness. Net cash proceeds to the Company, after expenses relating to closing the transaction, are estimated to be approximately $14.5 million.

As a condition to the Agreement, the Company's 2004 Note in the principal amount of $5.0 million was amended to, among other things, extend the maturity date to December 31, 2008 from September 30, 2007 and to set the interest rate at 10% from the prior rate of prime rate plus 4.5% (currently 12.75%). A more detailed description of this equity financing may be reviewed in the Company's Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Use of Proceeds

The Company will utilize a portion of the net proceeds from the transaction described above to fund Study 105, the pivotal phase 3 trial for OxyADF (oxycodone HCl and niacin) Tablets, its lead product candidate utilizing Aversion(R) Technology. Study 105 is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter, repeat-dose study of the safety and efficacy of OxyADF Tablets for the treatment of acute, moderate to severe postoperative pain following bunionectomy surgery in adult patients. This is a 3-arm clinical trial comp
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SOURCE Acura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Copyright©2007 PR Newswire.

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