Staff Writer

Four months after MediciNova Inc. announced its Japanese initial public offering, the San Diego-based company brought in proceeds of $107.7 million for ongoing development in the urology and obstetrics market.

Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, managed MediciNova's offering. The company sold about 30 million shares of its common stock at a price of 400 yen - about $3.88 - per share. Underwriters have an overallotment option, open until March 4, to purchase 4.5 million shares.

MediciNova's offering was conducted in Japan, and the company will be listed on the Osaka Securities Exchange under the Hercules market. MediciNova's executives were in Japan for the closing and could not be reached for comment.

Founded four years ago as a subsidiary of Tanabe Seiyaku Ltd., of Osaka, MediciNova has ties to Japan. Just before announcing its IPO last fall, MediciNova had raised $44 million in a Series C financing round, with about 70 percent of that coming from Japanese investors. (See BioWorld Today, Sept. 7, 2004.)

Along with the money, most of the drugs in the company's pipeline were licensed from Japanese companies. MediciNova acquired worldwide rights, with the exception of Japan, to MN-221 from Tokyo-based Kissei Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. That drug is a selective b2-adreno-receptor agonist that MediciNova is investigating as a treatment for premature labor. MediciNova said it plans to file an investigational new drug application and begin Phase II trials during the first half of this year.

Another drug aiming to begin Phase II trials this year is MN-001, an oral anti-inflammatory compound, to treat interstitial cystitis. That product was acquired from Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Tokyo. MN-001, along with its primary metabolite, MN-002, is designed to work by blocking leukotriene receptors and inhibiting phosphodiesterase 4.

MediciNova also plans to begin Phase II trials of MN-001 in asthma this year.

The company is set to move into Phase II trials for MN-305, another compound licensed from a Tokyo-based firm, this time Mitsubishi Pharma Corp. The drug is described as a 5-HT1A receptor agonist to treat generalized anxiety disorder. MediciNova has worldwide rights to MN-305, with the exception of Japan, China and Southeast Asia.

MediciNova acquired MN-029, a vascular agent to target solid tumors, in July 2002 from Oxford, UK-based Angiogene Pharmaceuticals Ltd. That product is in Phase I trials.

FivePrime Raises $45M Privately

With plans to expand drug discovery efforts to develop therapeutic proteins, FivePrime Inc. raised $45 million in private equity financing.

Domain Associates LLC, of Princeton, N.J., led the round, along with new investors, including European venture capital fund HealthCap and the JPMorgan Bay Area Equity Fund.

The South San Francisco-based company said it will use the funds to advance a number of therapeutic protein leads in oncology and immune diseases, while expanding discovery efforts in cardiovascular disease and other areas. FivePrime focuses on protein drug candidates by applying high-throughput protein expression and cell-based assays to a screening library that encompasses all of the human secreted and cell-surface proteins.

The technology focuses on screening all relevant proteins in the human body to find the treatments. The company has identified four areas - oncology, immunology, diabetes and regenerative medicine - and said its first leads are being validated through in vivo testing.

FivePrime said its protein discovery system, ProScreen Engine, reached its optimal speed last year, completing a set of human secreted proteins in three new clinical indications every four months.

FivePrime, founded by Lewis Williams in 2002, previously raised $12 million in a private placement in September 2003. (See BioWorld Today, Sept. 26, 2003.)

Scolr Pharma Brings In $15M

Bellevue, Wash.-based Scolr Pharma Inc. raised $15 million in a private placement of its common stock, selling 3.75 million shares to new and existing investors at $4 per share.

The company said net proceeds will be used to fund research and development projects, as well as providing working capital. Taglich Brothers Inc. served as the placement agent.

Scolr uses its patented Controlled Delivery Technology (CDT) platform to introduce over-the-counter products, prescriptions drugs and dietary supplements. The round of financing is expected to further apply its drug delivery platform, CDT, to additional drug targets.

Scolr previously announced plans to initiate human testing of CDT-based extended-release formulations of ibuprofen and pseudoephedrine this quarter. The company said it hopes to file a new drug application later this year for the ibuprofen tablets and plans an abbreviated new drug application this summer for pseudoephedrine tablets.

Human clinical evaluations of a CDT-based immediate-release Raloxifene formulation are set to begin next quarter.

The company raised $10.4 million about a year ago, following the sale of about 3.2 million common shares at $3.25 each.

Northfield Raises $77M For PolyHeme

Northfield Laboratories Inc., of Evanston, Ill., closed its public offering, raising a total of $77.6 million, including $10.1 million in overallotments.

The company sold 4.5 million shares, plus an overallotment option of 675,000 shares, at a price of $15 per share. Net proceeds were expected to reach about $72.8 million and be used to fund post-enrollment activities in Northfield's PolyHeme trial, including the submission of a biologics license application and construction of a manufacturing plant in Mt. Prospect, Ill. Funds also will go toward establishing a sales force for the blood-substitute product described as a solution of chemically modified human hemoglobin that requires no cross matching.

Northfield focuses on developing oxygen-carrying blood substitutes for the treatment of large-volume blood loss due to trauma or surgical procedures. The company received approval from an independent monitoring group in July to move forward with its pivotal Phase III study, though the FDA previously turned down a 2001 application.

UBS Investment Bank, of New York, acted as sole book-running manager in the offering, while two other New York-based agencies, SG Cowen and Harris Nesbitt, acted as co-lead manager and co-manager.

Shares of Northfield (NASDAQ:NFLD) closed at $17.05 Wednesday, down $1.27.

Arena Nets $48M After Overallotments

Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. expects to net $48.3 million from its previously announced sale of common stock. Including about 1.1 million overallotment shares, the San Diego-based company sold a total of 8.6 million shares at a price of $6 each.

Arena told BioWorld Today last week that proceeds will be used to advance its preclinical and clinical programs, and cover costs of developing new product candidates. The company has two small molecules in preclinical development for Type II diabetes, as part of a collaboration with Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc., a unit of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson. Arena also collaborates with Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck & Co. Inc. for three GPCRs to develop therapeutics for atherosclerosis and other disorders.

The company also has an obesity product, APD365, in Phase II trials, and an insomnia drug, ADP125, in Phase I testing. A portion of the $48 million also will go toward those programs. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 2, 2005.)

Shares of Arena (NASDAQ:ARNA) dropped 20 cents Wednesday to close at $6.19.

Bioenvision's Proceeds Total $56.4M

Preparing for the European launch of its leukemia drug clofarabine, New York-based Bioenvision Inc. announced net proceeds of $56.4 million after the closing of its common stock offering of 7.5 million shares at $8 apiece.

Underwriters included New York-based firms JPMorgan Securities Inc., UBS Investment Bank, CIBC World Markets Corp., and Arlington, Va.-based Friedman, Billings, Ramsay & Co. Inc.

Bioenvision filed an application last year with the European Medicines Evaluation Agency to market clofarabine for pediatric acute lyphocytic leukemia and acute myelogenous leukemia. The EMEA is expected to rule on the application around mid-year.

Clofarabine received U.S. approval in December, and Bioenvision's partner, Cambridge, Mass.-based Genzyme Corp., will market the drug under the brand name Clolar. Since Genzyme holds rights to clofarabine, Bioenvision will pay royalties on European sales.

Bioenvision said it also is seeking European approval for Modrenal to treat post-menopausal advanced breast cancer, following relapse to initial hormone therapy. If both clofarabine and Modrenal are granted marketing approval, the company is expected to add six to 10 sales representatives. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 4, 2005.)

Shares of Bioenvision (NASDAQ:BIVN) dropped 19 cents Wednesday to close at $7.97.

PDL Gets $250M From Convertible Senior Notes

Protein Design Labs Inc. priced its offering of convertible senior notes for a principal amount of $250 million, due 2012. The Fremont, Calif.-based company said it will use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including research and development.

PDL granted initial purchasers of the notes an option to buy an additional $50 million in notes, which will be convertible into the company's common stock at about $23.69, marking a 30 percent premium over Tuesday's closing price of $18.22. Notes will bear an annual interest rate of 2 percent over seven years.

In addition to product development, the company said funds will be used for working capital and expansion of manufacturing facilities. A portion also may be used to pay for the proposed acquisitions of ESP Pharma Inc. and Retavase, and to make other possible acquisitions or investments.

Last month, PDL announced it would buy the cardiovascular pharmaceutical firm ESP Pharma for $300 million in cash and $175 million in stock, in a deal that would yield PDL five marketed products and $14 million in ESP debt. But, before the deal could go through, ESP purchased exclusive rights to Retavase in the U.S. and Canada, driving up the company's purchase price to a $325 million cash payment. Retavase, first marketed in 1997, dissolves coronary blood clots and improves blood flow in cardiac patients. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 26, 2005.)

PDL's shares (NASDAQ:PDLI) dropped 16 cents Wednesday to close at $18.06.