Marshall Edwards Inc. is raising $16.4 million through the sale of stock and warrants to fund development of its products for cancer.

The Washington-based company, a majority-owned subsidiary of Sydney, Australia-based Novogen Ltd., entered into definitive agreements for the private placement of about 5.46 million common shares at $3 per share. Investors also received five-year warrants to purchase about 2.2 million shares at $3.60 apiece.

Marshall Edwards' shares (NASDAQ:MSHL) gained 4 cents Tuesday to close at $2.96.

Blue Trading LLC was placement agent for the deal. Marshall Edwards also issued a notice of termination of a standby equity distribution agreement from July 2006 with Cornell Capital Partners LP.

Marshall Edwards is developing anticancer therapies based on multiple signal transduction regulators, from a family of chemicals discovered by its parent company. Novogen owns 78.1 percent of Marshall Edwards. The lead drug, phenoxodiol, is designed to induce cancer cell death and is believed to kill cancer cells that are resistant to standard chemotherapy drugs.

The company in June enrolled the first patient in its 470-patient Phase III OVATURE trial evaluating the drug with carboplatin against carboplatin alone in recurrent ovarian cancer. The primary endpoint is progression-free survival, with overall survival as a secondary endpoint.

In other financing news:

• Callisto Pharmaceuticals Inc., of New York, closed an $11.2 million private placement. The deal consisted of 1.12 million shares of Series B convertible preferred stock and 22.5 million warrants. The preferred stock is convertible into common shares at 50 cents per share. The three-year warrants are exercisable at 70 cents per share. The private placement was co-led by RAB Special Situations (Master) Fund Ltd. and Absolute Octane Master Fund Ltd. Funds will be used to develop Atiprimod and L-Annamycin, two products in clinical trials for cancer indications. Callisto now plans to move Guanilib (SP-304), a drug candidate for gastrointestinal diseases, into clinical development. Callisto's stock (AMEX:KAL) was unchanged Tuesday at 70 cents.

• Azur Pharma Ltd., of Dublin, Ireland, completed a $48 million private placement, representing 28 percent of its outstanding shares. The private placement was arranged through Davy Corporate Finance Ltd. Privately held Azur on Monday completed its $42 million-plus acquisition of the marketed antipsychotic drug FazaClo (clozapine) from Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Aliso Viejo, Calif. (See BioWorld Today, July 5, 2007.)

• Novacta Biosystems Ltd., of Welwyn Garden City, UK, completed a €600,000 (US$826,000) financing round with new investor Esperante, existing shareholders Westgate Hall, GEIF Ventures and Oxford Technology 4 VCT, and others. Novacta is developing naturally derived products primarily as novel anti-infective agents for hospital-based infections. Its lead product candidate for treatment of the hospital-acquired infections caused by Clostridium difficile is in preclinical development.