National Editor

Tularik Inc. priced an offering of 6 million shares pursuant to a shelf registration, netting about $67.7 million and granting underwriters an option to buy 900,000 more shares, all of which are being sold by Tularik.

Andrew Perlman, executive vice president of South San Francisco-based Tularik, said the company is in a quiet period as required by the SEC and could not comment. The company's prospectus for the offering said the proceeds would be used for general corporate purposes, including ongoing clinical trials.

Tularik is conducting a pivotal study of T67, which binds to beta-tubulin, for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and Phase II trials with the drug's analogue, T607, for HCC, ovarian cancer, gastric cancer and esophageal cancer.

Moving into Phase II trials are T487, for inflammatory diseases, and T131 for Type II diabetes.

T131 activates peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, a target involved in the body's ability to respond to insulin. T487 is a small molecule designed to inhibit the chemokine activity underlying inflammatory diseases by binding to a single chemokine receptor without impairing other important immune system functions, and may be useful against such conditions as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis, the company said.

The company has activity in the cancer area - so much, in fact, that it drew the attention this spring of Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based Amgen Inc., which bought 21.3 percent of the company for more than $35 million as part of an oncology collaboration that will bring a total of $125 million in committed funding. Tularik received the $35 million in July. (See BioWorld Today, May 22, 2003.)

Just more than a year ago, Tularik priced a public offering of 4 million shares, netting the firm about $25.7 million to be used for advancing its products. At the end of the third quarter of this year, the company had $155.3 million in cash and equivalents. (See BioWorld Today, Oct. 21, 2002.)

Tularik's stock (NASDAQ:TLRK) rose 14 cents Tuesday to close at $12.15.