6. Debt

On September 17, 2021, or the Closing Date, the Company entered into a Loan and Security Agreement, or the Loan Agreement, with Hercules Capital, Inc., in its capacity as administrative agent and collateral agent and as a lender, or, in such capacity, the Agent or Hercules, and the other financial institutions that from time to time become parties to the Loan Agreement as lenders, or, collectively, the Lenders.

The Loan Agreement provides for term loans in an aggregate principal amount of up to $200 million, or the Term Loan, under multiple tranches. The tranches consist of (i) a first tranche consisting of term loans in an aggregate principal amount of $100 million, all of which was funded on the Closing Date, or the First Advance, (ii) a second tranche consisting of up to an additional $50 million, (iii) a third and fourth tranches consisting of an additional total $50 million, which became available in May 2022.

On September 27, 2022, the Company entered into an amendment to the Loan Agreement, or the Second Loan Amendment, pursuant to which the date the second tranche of funding of $50 million will remain available to the Company has been moved until May 15, 2023, rather than December 15, 2022.

On May 9, 2023, the Company entered into the Third Amendment to Loan and Security Agreement, or the Third Loan Amendment, with the lenders, pursuant to which, among other things, (i) the second tranche availability was extended from through May 15, 2023, to through December 15, 2023, and became available on October 1, 2023, (ii) the third tranche availability was extended from through September 30, 2023, to through December 15, 2023, and became available on October 1, 2023, (iii) the effective date of the performance covenants was amended to provide an option to extend the covenant trigger date to May 15, 2024, subject to the achievement of the FDA approval of vonoprazan for Erosive GERD or the EE Milestone, prior to February 15, 2024, and (iv) the warrant agreement with Hercules was amended as described below. On November 1, 2023, the EE Milestone was achieved and the covenant trigger date was extended to May 15, 2024. In connection with the Third Loan Amendment, a tranche extension amendment fee of $150,000 and a covenant extension amendment fee of $100,000 was paid to the Agent. These fees have been recorded as debt discount and are being amortized to interest expense using the effective interest method over the remaining term of the Term Loan.

On December 14, 2023, the Company entered into a Fourth Amendment to Loan and Security Agreement, or the Fourth Loan Amendment, with the lenders, pursuant to which, among other things, (i) increases the aggregate principal amount of the term loans from $200 million to $300 million; (ii) provides for the possibility of accessing the remaining $200 million commitment through five tranches referred to as the second through sixth tranches, which are available subject to certain milestones and conditions: (a) Second Tranche: $50 million, $40 million of which was funded on December 14, 2023, available through March 15, 2024, (b) Third Tranche: $25 million available through June 15, 2024, (c) Fourth Tranche: $25 million available through December 15, 2024, (d) Fifth Tranche: $50 million available, subject to the achievement of a specified revenue milestone, or the Fifth Tranche milestone, through June 30, 2025, and (e) Sixth Tranche: $50 million available, subject to the achievement of a specific revenue milestone, or the Sixth Tranche milestone, through December 31, 2025; (iii) extends the interest only period and the maturity date from October 2026 to December 2027, (iv) reduces the cash interest rate from 10.75% (floating annual rate equal to the greater of (a) 5.50% and (b) the Prime Rate (as reported in the Wall Street Journal) plus 2.25% to 9.85% (floating rate based on the greater of (a) 9.85% or (b) US WSJ Prime + 1.35%), provided that the cash interest rate shall be capped at 10.35% and upon the Company achieving the Sixth Tranche milestone, the cash interest floating rated shall be decreased by 0.35% to 9.50%, and (v) decreases the payment-in-kind interest rate from 3.35% per annum to 2.15% per annum. In connection with the Fourth Loan Amendment, an amendment fee of $250,000 was paid to the Agent and was recorded as a debt discount and is being amortized to interest expense using the effective interest method over the remaining term of the Term Loan.

On March 15, 2024, the Company drew down on the remaining $10 million available of the Second Tranche.

The Term Loan will mature on December 1, 2027, or the Maturity Date. The Term Loan bears (i) cash interest at a variable annual rate equal to the greater of (a) 9.85% and (b) the Prime Rate (as reported in the Wall Street Journal) plus 1.35%, or the Interest Rate, and (ii) payment-in-kind interest at a per annum rate of interest equal to 2.15%. The Company may make payments of interest only through the Maturity Date. After the interest-only period, the principal balance and related interest will be required to be repaid in full on the Maturity Date.

In addition, the Company is obligated to pay a final payment fee of 7.50% of the original principal amount of amounts actually advanced under the Term Loan, or each a Term Loan Advance and together, the Term Loan Advances. In connection with the Fourth Loan Amendment, the final payment fee was amended to be $1 million plus 3.00% of any future tranche drawdowns under the agreement, due upon final maturity. Additionally, the initial final payment fee for the first term Loan advance was amended to become payable on October 1, 2026. As of March 31, 2024, the aggregate final payment fee for the first Term Loan Advance of $7.5 million and $2.2 million for the second Term Loan Advance, have both been recorded within other long-term liabilities.

Under the Fourth Loan Amendment the Company may elect to prepay all or a portion of the Term Loan Advances prior to maturity, subject to a prepayment fee of up to 1.25% of the then outstanding principal balance of the Term Loan Advances being prepaid when such prepayment occurs prior to October 1, 2026, or 0.50% if such prepayment occurs on or after October 1, 2026. After repayment, no Term Loan amounts may be borrowed again.

As collateral for the obligations, the Company has granted to Hercules a senior security interest in all of Company’s right, title, and interest in, to and under substantially all of Company’s property, inclusive of intellectual property.

The Loan Agreement contains customary closing fees, prepayment fees and provisions, events of default, and representations, warranties and covenants, including financial covenants. The financial covenants under the Fourth Loan Amendment include (i) a minimum cash covenant and (ii) a performance covenant as follows:

Upon the occurrence of an event of default, subject to any specified cure periods, all amounts owed by the Company may be declared immediately due and payable by Hercules, as collateral agent. As of March 31, 2024, the Company was in compliance with all applicable covenants under the Loan Agreement.

In connection with the entry into the Loan Agreement, the Company issued to Hercules a warrant, or the Warrant, to purchase a number of shares of the Company’s common stock equal to 2.5% of the aggregate amount of the Term Loan advances funded, and will issue to Hercules additional warrants when future Term Loan advances are funded. On the Closing Date, the Company issued a Warrant for 74,782 shares of common stock. The Warrant will be exercisable for a period of seven years from the date of issuance at a per-share exercise price equal to $33.43, which was the closing price of the Company’s common stock on September 16, 2021. In connection with the entry into the Third Loan Amendment, the Company amended the form of warrants to be issued upon drawdowns of future tranches such that the exercise price of such warrants shall be equal to the lesser (i) of $11.6783, which was the trailing ten-day VWAP prior to entering into the Third Loan Amendment and (ii) the trailing ten-day VWAP preceding the date on which the Company drawdown future tranches. In connection with the entry into the Fourth Loan Amendment, the Company eliminated the warrant agreement for all future tranches. The Warrant issued with the initial tranche was not modified as part of this amendment. The exercise price and terms of the outstanding Warrant remain unchanged.

The initial $1.3 million fair value of the Warrant, the $9.7 million final interest payment fees and $3.5 million of debt issuance costs have been recorded as debt discount and are being amortized to interest expense using the effective interest method over the term of the Term Loan.

During the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, the Company recognized $5.0 million and $4.0 million, respectively, of interest expense, including amortization of the debt discount, in connection with the Hercules Loan Agreement. As of March 31, 2024, the Company had an outstanding loan balance of $158.9 million and accrued interest of $1.3 million.