Cypros Pharmaceutical Corp. said Friday that it raised $9.8 millionthrough the exercising of Class A warrants and underwriter unitpurchase options.

Each of the 880,000 warrants, exercised at $9.25 apiece, entitled theholder to 1.175 shares of common stock and one-half of one Class Bwarrant, which can exercised for one common share until November1997 at $13.75. Also, the 100,000 unit options, exercised at $7.56each, gave the holder one share of common stock, one Class A andone Class B warrant.

David Nassif, the Carlsbad, Calif. company's vice president andchief financial officer, said 98.7 percent of outstanding Class Awarrants were exercised.

Cypros' stock (NASDAQ:CYPR) was up 47 cents Friday, closing at$15 per share. The company now has about 4.5 million sharesoutstanding. The company reported cash and equivalents of $5.2million on Oct. 31.

Cypros, which reported a net loss of $2.4 million for the year thatended Oct. 31, 1994, has used only $4 million in cash for operationssince its inception in 1990 through last October. That's one of thelowest burn rates for a biotechnology company, particularly one withtwo products in the clinic.

"Cypros is an example of a new way of building a company todevelop drugs," Nassif told BioWorld. The company in-licensescompounds that already are somewhat developed, focusing onapplied rather than basic research, which he said was too expensiveand time-consuming. And, he said, Cypros, with 16 employees,works to keep overhead down.

The company's lead product, CPC-111, is in Phase II trials for heartfailure and adult respiratory distress syndrome. Two other Phase IItrials planned for 1995 are in sickle cell crisis and cardioplegia,Nassif said.

CPC-111 is a small molecule the company believes can generatecellular energy in the absence of oxygen. A sugar, it can support thegeneration of four molecules of adenosine triphosphate for everymolecule of drug under anaerobic conditions, the company said.

Last month, Cypros reported that a Phase I trial of CPC-211 forcerebral ischemic disorders showed the drug was well tolerated atthree dose levels. Nassif said a Phase II trial in a stroke-relatedindication is expected to begin in 1995. n

-- Jim Shrine Staff Writer

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.