** Shares of Esperion Therapeutics ESPR.O down 21% premarket to $2.44 after $75 mln follow-on pricing

** Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Esperion late Tues announced 30 mln shares at $2.50, a 19.1% discount to last sale

** It plans to use net offering proceeds primarily to fund commercialization efforts for its cholesterol drugs, Nexletol and Nexlizet, for R&D of current or additional pipeline candidates, per the prospectus

** Last Fri, Esperion said it reached a settlement with India-based Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories that will prevent the latter from selling generic versions of its cholesterol drugs in the U.S. before April 2040

** With ~201.6 mln shares outstanding, Esperion has $623 mln market cap

** Piper Sandler and Cantor Fitzgerald are joint bookrunners for offering

** Through Tues close, ESPR shares up about 40% YTD, including nearly 17% gain over the past week

** Of 8 analysts covering ESPR, recommendation breakdown is 5 "strong buy" or "buy", 2 "hold" and 1 "sell"; median PT is $4, per LSEG

(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)

((lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))