By Chris Delporte

Transkaryotic Therapies Inc. said it planned to raise $88 million through the public offering of 3.1 million shares of its common stock at a purchase price of $28.50 per share.

TKT¿s stock fell 50 cents Tuesday to close at $28.51. Its stock has traded between $13.50 and $56.13 in the past 52 weeks.

TKT officials declined to offer any additional information regarding the stock offer, referring instead to its press release.

In the release, the company said it would use the net proceeds generated for general corporate purposes, including building its sales and marketing capabilities for its niche protein products, expanding clinical trials and funding preclinical testing and other research and development programs.

SG Cowen Securities, of New York, acted as underwriter for the offering. The underwriters have an option to purchase up to 465,000 additional shares to cover overallotments.

At the end of the first quarter, the company had 22.8 million shares outstanding. TKT¿s cash and investments, also as of the end of first quarter 2001, totaled approximately $221 million.

Founded in 1988, the company went public in 1996, raising $37.5 million in its initial public offering of 2.5 million shares at $15 per share. It had a private placement in November 1999, bringing in $132 million through the sales of 3.3 million shares at $40 per share. In May 2000, it raised about $100 million through the sale of convertible preferred stock, selling 3.6 million shares at a conversion price of $28 per share. (See BioWorld Today, Oct. 18, 1996; Nov. 1, 1999; and May 22, 2000.)

Cambridge, Mass.-based TKT has about 300 employees and develops products based on three proprietary development platforms: gene-activated proteins, niche protein products and gene therapy. These platforms are used to design protein and gene therapy products for a wide range of diseases.

A chief product currently in development is Replagal (agalsidase alfa) for the treatment of Fabry disease. TKT submitted a biologics license application to the FDA and a marketing authorization application to the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medical Products, seeking approval for Replagal. The company recently received a positive opinion recommending marketing approval in Europe. Genzyme Corp., also of Cambridge, has a treatment for Fabry disease as well, and the companies are awaiting the FDA¿s decision to grant one of their therapies orphan drug status. (See BioWorld Today, May 21, 2001.)

TKT has product candidates from each of its development platforms in various stages of clinical testing, and said it plans to expand clinical trials for one additional gene-activated protein and niche protein product over the next year.