CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 16, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL), a leading developer of expanded autologous cell therapies for the treatment of patients with serious diseases and conditions, today announced the pricing of its previously announced underwritten public offering of 6,200,000 shares of its common stock, offered at a price to the public of $2.75 per share. The gross proceeds to Vericel from this offering are expected to be approximately $17 million, before deducting the underwriting discount and other estimated offering expenses payable by Vericel. Vericel has granted the underwriter a 30-day option to purchase at the public offering price up to an aggregate of 930,000 additional shares of its common stock to cover over-allotments, if any. The offering is expected to close on or about December 21, 2016, subject to customary closing conditions. Vericel anticipates using the proceeds from the offering to support the commercialization of MACI, expand promotional efforts for Epicel, expand and optimize manufacturing and for other general corporate purposes.
Piper Jaffray & Co. is acting as the sole manager for the offering.
About Vericel Corporation
Vericel develops, manufactures, and markets expanded autologous cell therapies for the treatment of patients with serious diseases and conditions. The company currently markets two cell therapy products in the United States. Carticel® (autologous cultured chondrocytes) is an autologous chondrocyte implant for the treatment of cartilage defects in the knee in patients who have had an inadequate response to a prior arthroscopic or other surgical repair procedure. Epicel® (cultured epidermal autografts) is a permanent skin replacement for the treatment of patients with deep dermal or full thickness burns greater than or equal to 30% of total body surface area. Vericel also plans to market MACI® (autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane), an autologous cellularized scaffold product indicated for the repair of symptomatic, single or multiple full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee with or without bone involvement in adults, which was recently approved by the FDA. Vericel is also developing ixmyelocel?T, an autologous multicellular therapy intended to treat advanced heart failure due to ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy.
