Vericel, a developer of expanded autologous cell therapies for the treatment of patients with serious diseases and conditions, entered into an expanded $15 million term loan and retained an existing $10 million revolving line of credit with Silicon Valley Bank and MidCap Financial Services, providing Vericel access to up to a total of $25 million of capital.

The expanded facility will replace the outstanding balance of $7 million under Vericel’s existing term loan with Silicon Valley and MidCap Financial, providing approximately $8 million of incremental capital to the company and bringing the total term loan balance to $15 million.

The increased capital will support Vericel’s planned MACI (autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collage membrane) sales force expansion from 28 to 40 sales representatives and other marketing initiatives to support the continued growth in MACI uptake. Since MACI launched in the first quarter of 2017, Vericel achieved two straight quarters of 30% or greater revenue growth versus the same quarter of the prior year and record third quarter revenues.

“We appreciate [Silicon Valley Bank and MidCap Financial’s] confidence in MACI’s prospects and our business overall,” said Gerard Michel, Vericel’s CFO and vice president of corporate development. “The expanded loan facility strengthens our balance sheet while minimizing dilution and will allow us to reach the broader surgeon audience that has shown interest in using MACI to treat patients with full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee and to continue to support the expanded usage of Epicel.”