By Lisa Seachrist

Washington Editor

Looking to start a pivotal trial for its lead cancer drug, Inex Pharmaceuticals Inc. has registered in Canada to sell C$18 million (US$12 million) in stock.

Vancouver, British Columbia-based Inex is proposing to sell approximately 4.25 million shares to fund a pivotal trial of its lead product, Onco TCS, a proprietary formulation of the off-patent cancer therapy vincristine encapsulated in Inex's Transmembrane Carrier System. The company is testing the drug as a therapy for secondary relapsed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).

Nesbitt Burns Inc., of Toronto, is the lead underwriter for the offering. RBC Dominion Securities and Yorkton Securities Inc., both of Toronto, also are underwriting the offering.

The company's stock (TSE:IEX) closed Monday at C$4.20, down 10 cents.

The proceeds will be used primarily for the development of Onco TCS. Researchers from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston will present Phase IIa data from a study testing the drug against relapsed NHL at the American Society of Hematology meeting in New Orleans in December. The company intends to complete the pivotal trial in time for a second-half 2001 regulatory filing in the U.S. and Canada.

In addition to Onco TCS, Inex has recently filed an investigational new drug application with Health Canada for approval to begin Phase I clinical trials for its novel anti-cancer drug, IXX-3280 - an oligonucleotide aimed against the c-myc cancer gene. The company is proposing to conduct a single-agent dose-ranging study and a dose-ranging study in combination with cisplatin in patients with solid tumors.