MannKind Corp. on Wednesday said it has entered into two agreements to sell up to 36.4 million of its common shares to raise cash and pay down debt. Company founder and Chief Executive Al Mann will buy some of the shares.

The sales could raise roughly $240 million or more for the company, although the final amount could vary by a wide margin. The money will strengthen the Valencia biotech’s financial position as it accelerates talks with potential drug company partners that would help it launch its first product, an inhaled insulin therapy for diabetes called Afrezza. The Afrezza inhaler is awaiting a Food and Drug Administration decision that could come by the end of the year.

In one of the stock deals, MannKind is selling up to 18.2 million shares for cash to Seaside 88, a private investment limited partnership, over a year. Seaside will be able to purchase 700,000 MannKind shares every two weeks at an 8 percent discount to the 10-day moving average trading price, which must be at least $6.50 per share.

In the second deal. Mann Group LLC, an entity controlled by Mann, will buy 700,000 shares every two weeks, for a total 18.2 million shares over a one-year period at a minimum of $7.15 a share. This sale will be in exchange for the reduction in about $130 million in MannKind debt held by the group.

Mann, the company’s largest single shareholder already controls about 42 percent of the company’s outstanding shares.

The company currently has 114 million outstanding shares. The company said it expects to close the initial sales of 700,000 shares on Sept 22.

Shares were down 17 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $6.99 in midday trading on the Nasdaq.