Antigenics Inc. pulled down 4 million shares from its shelf registration, sold them at $15 apiece and raised a total of $60 million $56 million of which the company expects to see as proceeds.

Underwriters for the offering will have an overallotment option of 600,000 shares. UBS Warburg LLC, of New York, is acting as lead underwriter and Robertson Stephens Inc., of San Francisco, is acting as co-manager.

Antigenics’ stock (NASDAQ:AGEN) fell 75 cents Friday to close at $15. The company filed a shelf registration statement with the SEC in November for an aggregate sum of up to $100 million.

As of Sep. 30, Antigenics had about $72 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. It has about 29 million shares outstanding.

In a prospectus supplement, the company said it intends to use the funds for additional trials of its lead product, Oncophage; for trials and preclinical studies of its other products; to expand manufacturing capabilities; for potential licenses and acquisitions of complementary technologies and products; and for working capital and other general corporate purposes.

Oncophage is made of heat shock protein-peptide complexes designed to elicit a T-cell-based immune response to a patient’s individual cancer. The product received fast-track designation from the FDA for renal cell carcinoma and is being tested in a Phase III trial for that indication, but the product also is being evaluated in melanoma, colorectal carcinoma, gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It’s being tested in seven Phase II or Phase I/II trials and Antigenics said it plans to initiate two additional Phase III trials in melanoma during the first quarter.

Aroplatin, Antigenics’ liposomal formulation of a platinum compound, is expected to begin Phase II trials in colorectal, pancreatic and ovarian cancers in this year’s first half. Antigenics’ third cancer product, ATRA-IV, a liposomal intravenous formulation of all-trans-retinoic acid, should begin a Phase II trial in peripheral T-cell lymphoma in the first quarter.

QS-21, an immune system adjuvant used to improve immune response when included with a vaccine, is licensed to Elan Corp. plc, of Dublin, Ireland, and American Home Products Corp., of Madison, N.J., for the development of an Alzheimer’s vaccine. Elan and AHP are studying AN-1792, an Alzheimer’s vaccine, in a Phase IIa trial in which QS-21 is the only adjuvant used.

AG-702, a vaccine targeting herpes simplex virus type 2, is being tested in healthy volunteers and in herpes patients in a Phase I trial.