South Jersey specialty generic pharmaceutical firm Teligent Inc. filed for voluntarily bankruptcy protection on Thursday as it pursues the sale of the company or its core assets.

Teligent Inc. of Buena in Atlantic County also said it is arranging for $12 million debtor-in-possession financing from its senior secured lenders.

The company also announced that CEO Tim SawyerandPhilip Yachmetz, Teligent's chief legal officer and executive vice president, resigned effective Oct. 8.

Shares of the company are down 47% in pre-market trading Thursday to 18 cents.

Teligent (NASDAQ: TLGT) filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The filing does not yet list specific assets and liabilities. It did note AmerisourceBergen (NYSE: ABC) is owed $8.3 million, making the Conshohocken-based wholesale pharmaceutical distributor Teligent's largest unsecured creditor.

Teligent began marketing itself ahead of the Chapter 11 filing to determine the level of interest in the company and is in ongoing discussions with several interested parties, the company said. Teligent expects to finalize a sale of the entire business, or its core assets, by early 2022.

"The entire Teligent team has worked diligently over the past year to address market trends, our debt structure, and operational hurdles that have challenged our business," saidJohn Celentano, board chairman of Teligen, in a statement. "While this is not the outcome we envisioned, we are confident that Teligent's business includes a strong portfolio of specialty generic prescription assets and believe a sale is the best opportunity to maximize value."

Last year, Teligent generated revenue of $45.3 million and a net loss of $122 million. In 2019, it had sales of nearly $65.9 million and a loss of $25.1 million.

Teligent has spent the past two years engaged in remediation efforts for its South Jersey manufacturing plant after the Food and Drug Administration cited deficiencies at the plant in a warning letter issued to the company in November 2019. Teligent halted its production of certain undisclosed products while it continues to work to address the FDA's concerns.

The company's use of its newly constructed sterile injectable manufacturing plant has also been delayed because of the uncertainty regarding the timing the FDA's inspection of the site.

Last month, Teligent issued a voluntary recall for a Lidocaine product because of a potency issue. The company has not received any reports of adverse events related to this recall.

In connection with the bankruptcy filing, Teligent appointed Vladimir Kasparov, managing director at Portage Point Partners, as chief restructuring officer.

Founded in 1977, Teligent markets more than three dozen generic topical pharmaceutical products formulated as ointments, creams, lotions and gels. The company has over 140 employees, including 114 in Canada.

The company's Canadian affiliate, Teligent Canada, will be pursuing an out-of-court sale process.