• Alexza Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., said underwriters exercised in full their overallotment option to purchase an additional 900,000 shares of common stock in connection to the public offering of 6 million shares priced at $10.25 each. Including the overallotment proceeds, the company reported net proceeds of about $66 million, which are expected to fund research and development of its aerosol product candidates, as well as go toward working capital and general corporate purposes. Merrill Lynch & Co. and Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. acted as joint book-running managers, and Pacific Growth Equities LLC and RBC Capital Markets Corp. served as co-managers. (See BioWorld Today, April 30, 2007.)

• Nautilus Biotech, of Paris, raised €8.4 million (US$11.3 million) in investment funding, led by Creabilis Biotech, Ed.de Rothschild Investment Partners, Auriga Partners, Matignon Technologies, Pre-IPO Invest, FCJE, 123 Ventures and Genopole. Proceeds will be used to fund the initial clinical development of the company's two lead products, Belerofon and Vitatropin.

• Poniard Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, completed its public offering of 11.8 million shares, which included the overallotment option to purchase up to 1.5 million shares, priced at $6.33 each. Net proceeds from the offering will total about $70 million. Money will be used to support ongoing development of picoplatin, which is in clinical testing in small-cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer and prostate cancer, as well as ongoing work to evaluate an oral formulation of picoplatin. CIBC World Markets Corp. and Lazard Capital Markets LLC acted as joint book-running managers, while Pacific Growth Equities LLC, Leerink Swann & Co. Inc. and Fortis Securities LLC acted as co-managers. (See BioWorld Today, April 26, 2007.)

• Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, said it will initiate an offering of 5 million shares of common stock, though it has not yet announced the share price. The company plans to grant underwriters an overallotment option to purchase up to an additional 750,000 shares. Credit Suisse Securities LLC and Lehman Brothers Inc. will be acting as joint bookrunners, and Thomas Weisel Partners LLC will serve as co-manager.

• Sequenom Inc., of San Diego, closed its previously announced sale of $20 million of its common stock to new and existing institutional investors. Under the terms, Sequenom sold 6.7 million shares priced at $3 each for net proceeds of about $18.4 million. Funds will be used to develop diagnostic tests for use on the company's MassARRAY system and/or other platforms, as well as for growing the MassARRAY systems business and for general corporate purposes. Lehman Brothers Inc. served as the lead placement agent, with Rodman & Renshaw LLC acting as co-placement agent.