Dive Brief:
- MannKind confirmed on Wednesday that it would be pursuing a stock sale to Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) indexes on November 15. The company will reportedly sell up to 50 million shares of common stock directly (and only) to these indexes in an effort to raise cash.
- MannKind has been beleaguered by lackluster sales of its inhaled insulin product Afrezza, which launched earlier this year but notched just $2.2 million in net sales in Q3.
- There has been widespread speculation that Sanofi is getting ready to ditch its partnership with MannKind over the languishing sales. Prior to confirmation of the stock sale, MannKind shares had fallen to as low as $1.91 per share. The stock has risen 23% in Thursday morning trading, likely on news of the cash-raising effort in Israel.
Dive Insight:
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and MannKind is doing everything it can to stave off catastrophe in the face of a challenging marketing landscape for a major insulin product and Q3 financials showing that the company's balance sheet is in deep trouble.
Enter the planned stock sale to TASE index funds (at a discount). The question is: How much money can the company raise, and what will be its effect on the firm's long-term outlook? MannKind reported in Q3 that it had a mere $8 million in cash on hand.
MannKind has said that Afrezza sales have been low due to marketing glitches. But barring a serious turnaround in subsequent quarters, the situation doesn't look good for the inhaled insulin.