• BG Medicine, of Waltham, Mass., closed an initial public offering (IPO) of 5 million shares of common stock at $7 per share, and full overallotment option sales to underwriters of an additional 750,000 shares at $7 per share, for gross proceeds of about $40.2 million. Lazard Capital Markets LLC acted as the sole book-running manager for the IPO, and Baird and Cowen and Co. acted as co-managers. BG is expected to net about $33.2 million if underwriters exercise the full overallotment option. Funds will be used for the commercial launch of lead cardiovascular diagnostic candidate BGM Galectin-3, as well as support development, regulatory and commercial activities for additional products and for general corporate purposes. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 7, 2011.)

• Marina Biotech Inc., of Bothell, Wash., will raise gross proceeds of about $5.1 million in an underwritten public offering of 6.37 million units at 80 cents per unit. The company said that each unit consists of one share of common stock and 0.1746 of a warrant to purchase one share of common stock. The warrants can be exercised immediately and have a seven-year term with an exercise price of 80 cents per share. The offering is expected to close by Feb. 15. Roth Capital Partners is the sole manager. Marina said it intends to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes and toward clinical development of CEQ508, currently in a Phase Ib/IIa trial for the treatment of familial adenomatous polyposis. Marina shares (NASDAQ:MRNA) closed down 32 cents, or 28.7 percent, to 80 cents on Thursday.

• Pro-Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Newton, Mass., reported that a combination of stock sales and grants have increased its cash position to about $8.1 million, enough to fund core operations into the second half of 2012. The company said that since Nov. 12, 2010, it received a final tranche of $234,000 in federal grant funding under the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project Program, issued about 4.9 million common shares from warrant and stock option exercises for cash proceeds of approximately $2.8 million and raised approximately $2.25 million from the sale of Series C preferred stock. Pro-Pharmaceuticals' Davanat anticancer compound is entering a Phase III trial to treat colorectal cancer. The company's GR and GM series of antifibrotic, cirrhosis compounds are in preclinical studies.