Viridian takes option to sell up to $50M in new stock

BOULDER — Viridian Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: VRDN) has signed an agreement to sell up to $50 million worth of new stock at prevailing market prices to fund its clinical research.

The Boulder-based biopharmaceutical company now has the option to sell new stock at its discretion through its broker Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: JEF) in exchange for a 3% commission from any sale, according to filings Monday morning with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Viridian’s new shares would be sold at market prices, which would vary just how much the new stocks would dilute its overall shares outstanding. 

If sold at its Monday opening price of $17.80 per share, the deal could add more than 2.8 million new shares to the company’s 7.23 million shares outstanding and amount to a 38.72% increase in the number of shares available for trading.

Viridian as it exists today is the result of a merger and rebrand late last year between Boulder-based Miragen Therapeutics and the former privately-held version of Viridian. The combined company renamed itself as Viridian and named standalone Viridian’s co-founder Jonathan Violin as its CEO in January, effectively making Miragen a reverse merger target after it had changed chief executives and its entire clinical focus in late 2020.

Private companies use reverse mergers to acquire and rebrand struggling publicly-traded companies. The method is one way for a company to become publicly-traded without going through the traditional initial public offering process.

Viridian is preparing to start clinical trials this year for two drug candidates meant to treat eye diseases caused by overactive thyroid glands. It had $127.6 million in cash on hand at the end of 2020, which it says is enough to keep it afloat through late 2023.

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