SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., April 29, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNSS) today announced that it has entered into a $5.5 million loan agreement with Silicon Valley Bank. The new agreement allows the company to retire its existing loan and defer any principal repayment on the new loan for more than 18 months. The new facility includes interest-only payments through 2020, with principal repayment over 24 months beginning in 2021, as well as a lower interest rate than the previous loan. The loan will be used for the repayment of the Company's existing indebtedness.

"Silicon Valley Bank is delighted to partner with Sunesis in providing a comprehensive banking solution to help further the development of their promising kinase inhibitor pipeline," said Dennis He, Vice President, Life Science and Healthcare Practice, Silicon Valley Bank. "This investment in Sunesis exemplifies our principle of supporting high-quality companies in life science that have the potential to bring an important new treatment option for patients in need."

"This agreement is a vote of confidence in our kinase inhibitor portfolio, led by our proprietary non-covalent BTK inhibitor vecabrutinib," said Willie Quinn, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, Corporate Development. "This new loan allows us to refinance our existing debt on improved terms at a pivotal time for the Company as we explore potentially active dose levels of vecabrutinib in our ongoing Phase 1b/2 study."

Additional details with respect to this loan agreement are available in the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K filed on April 29, 2019 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About Sunesis Pharmaceuticals

Sunesis is a biopharmaceutical company developing new targeted therapeutics for the treatment of hematologic and solid cancers. Sunesis has built an experienced drug development organization committed to improving the lives of people with cancer. The Company is focused on advancing its novel kinase inhibitor pipeline, with an emphasis on its oral, selective non-covalent BTK inhibitor vecabrutinib. Vecabrutinib is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1b/2 study in adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and other B-cell malignancies that have progressed after prior therapies. The Company's proprietary PDK1 inhibitor SNS-510 is in preclinical development. PDK1 is a master kinase that activates other kinases important to cell growth and survival including members of the AKT, PKC, RSK, and SGK families. Sunesis is exploring strategic alternatives for vosaroxin, a late-stage investigational product for relapsed or refractory AML. Sunesis also has an interest in the pan-RAF inhibitor TAK-580 which is licensed to Takeda. TAK-580 is in a clinical trial for pediatric low-grade glioma.

For additional information on Sunesis, please visit www.sunesis.com.

SUNESIS and the logos are trademarks of Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.