Reliant Pharmaceuticals Inc., which markets four cardiovascular products in the U.S., is trying again to complete an initial public offering.

The Liberty Corner, N.J., company more than two years ago first registered for an IPO, with plans at that time to raise up to $300 million. This time, the company said in its filing, it plans to raise up to $400 million. Share and price numbers were not estimated. (See BioWorld Today, May 24, 2005.)

The company after it began operations in 2000 acquired the cardiovascular drugs, including lead product Lovaza (formerly marketed as Omacor), an omega-3 product used to treat very high triglyceride levels. In addition, Reliant markets Rythmol SR, an anti-arrhythmic, and DynaCirc CR and InnoPran XL, both antihypertensives. Net product sales for 2006 were $312.6 million. Sales in the first six months of 2007 were $217.2 million.

The offering is expected to include shares sold by existing stockholders.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Merrill Lynch & Co. are joint lead managers and joint bookrunners for the proposed offering. Other underwriters are Bank of America Securities LLC and Lazard Capital Markets.

In other financing news:

• Nventa Biopharmaceuticals Corp., of San Diego, filed a final short-form prospectus with authorities in Canada for a proposed offering of up to 80,000,000 units for gross proceeds of up to C$10 million (US$9.5 million). The offering is being made through Jennings Capital Inc. and Canaccord Capital Corp. on a best-efforts basis. Each unit, at a price of C$0.125, consists of one common share and half a warrant. Each whole 30-month warrant would entitle its holder to purchase one share at C$0.25 each. Closing of the deal is expected around Aug. 21. Nventa is developing therapeutics for treating viral infections and cancer, with a focus on diseases caused by the human papillomavirus.

• NovaBay Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Emeryville, Calif., set terms for its proposed initial public offering, with plans to sell 5 million shares at $4 to $6 per share. The company, which started operations in mid-2002 as NovaCal Pharmaceuticals Inc., is developing a platform based on broad-spectrum antimicrobial Aganocide compounds. NovaBay filed in February to raise up to $23 million in an IPO. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 16, 2007.)

• ProMetic Life Sciences Inc., of Montreal, filed a supplement to a short-form base shelf prospectus, for the distribution of up to 16.7 million subordinate shares at C$0.42 per share. Paradigm Capital Inc. is the agent for the deal. Closing of the stock sale is expected around Aug. 23. The company is developing drugs and other applications based on its Mimetic Ligand technology.

• Nanosphere Inc., of Northbrook, Ill., registered to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering. The company develops, manufactures and markets the Verigene System diagnostics platform, which is designed to enable simple, low-cost and highly sensitive genomic and protein testing on a single platform. Expected terms on the IPO were not disclosed. Underwriters on the deal are Credit Suisse, Piper Jaffray, Leerink Swann & Co. and Allen & Co. LLC.