An agreement in hand, Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc. effectively extended its cash reserves for three years after securing $15 million through a private equity placement.

The New York-based company said it entered definitive agreements with several unnamed institutional investors for the issuance of common stock and warrants. Keryx sold about 3.5 million shares at $4.25 apiece. On Tuesday, Keryx's stock (NASDAQ:KERX) dipped 40 cents to close at $4.83.

Each share was accompanied by a five-year warrant to purchase 20 percent of an additional share with a $6 exercise price, for an aggregate of about 705,000 warrant shares.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company recorded a $1.6 million net loss and reported about 21.7 million shares outstanding.

Keryx noted that the offering boosted its cash position to $34 million, which it said should carry operations well into 2006. The company plans to use the funding to support its clinical program for KRX-101 (sulodexide), a first-in-class oral heparinoid compound in a U.S.-based Phase II/III study for diabetic nephropathy. The funding also provides Keryx added flexibility for its in-licensing and product-acquisition strategy that aims to expand its pipeline with additional clinical-stage drug candidates.

Rodman & Renshaw acted as the transaction's placement agent.