DUSA Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Wednesday that it has completed a private placement of 250,000 shares of common stock at $4.80 per share, raising $1.2 million. The shares comprise about 4.6 percent of the Denville, N.J., company's stock.

DUSA, a development-stage company, focuses mainly on dermatological applications of its lead product, ALA Photodynamic Therapy (ALA PDT), an experimental treatment for skin cancers, psoriasis and other disorders.

DUSA plans to use the proceeds to advance development of ALA PDT for internal applications. The company plans to support pilot human clinical trials on ALA PDT as a non- surgical alternative to hysterectomy, subject to regulatory approval.

The private placement should fund research for the internal applications of the drug for a year, said Robert Fuchs, executive vice president of Sunrise Financial Group Inc. He said that as of September the company had about $13 million in cash; this will fund dermatological applications of the drug through early 1997.

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