By Karen Pihl-Carey

In a furor of financings, seven biotechnology and genomics companies either filed to raise or did raise close to $500 million total on Tuesday through private placements and public offerings.

Among those seven, privately held Seattle Genetics Inc. brought in $30 million in a Series B financing, its largest since spinning off from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in 1997.

In addition, LJL BioSystems Inc. filed to offer 2.5 million shares of common stock that would raise the company about $70 million; GelTex Pharmaceuticals Inc. sold 1.75 million shares of common stock, raising $35 million; and Genomica Corp. completed a $15 million private placement of Series C preferred stock.

Seattle Genetics plans to use the funds it raised to expand all aspects of operations within the company, and to increase the number of trials investigating SGN-15 and SGN-10 for various carcinomas.

¿We were very pleased with the result of the Series B,¿ said Larry Benedict, controller for the Bothell, Wash.-based company.

He would not be more specific as to how the company would use the funds, other than to say the money also would help bring preclinical candidates into the clinic, possibly this year. ¿We¿re just looking at all aspects of operations and how we¿re going to expand,¿ he told BioWorld Today.

The company raised $7 million in 1998 in a Series A financing and through private funding, bringing the total raised by Seattle Genetics to $37 million.

The Series B financing was led by Bank of America Ventures, of Charlotte, N.C. Additional investors included Cascade Investment, of Everett, Wash.; Vulcan Ventures Inc., of Bellevue, Wash.; Olympic Venture Partners, of Kirkland, Wash.; Sofinnova Venture Partners, of San Francisco; and Indosuez Ventures, of Menlo Park, Calif.

Bristol-Myers Squibb, of New York, planned to shut down its Seattle site focused on monoclonal antibody-based targeting therapy for cancer in April 1997, but employees convinced the mother company to spin out what is now Seattle Genetics. (See BioWorld Today, May 7, 1998, p. 1.)

Seattle Genetics¿ antibody-directed enzyme/prodrug therapy (ADEPT) platform uses a genetically engineered antibody binding site fused to sequence and coding in enzymes, which can cause an action on a relatively nontoxic prodrug and convert it to chemotherapeutic active form.

The company¿s SGN-15, a chimeric monoclonal antibody that is conjugated to the cytotoxic drug doxorubicin, recently began a Phase I/II program in breast and colon carcinoma. It has been given to patients as part of a combination regimen with chemotherapy. The company also plans to test the drug in prostate and lung carcinomas.

Its other clinical product candidate, SGN-10, a genetically engineered immunotoxin fusion protein, has been administered to more than 40 patients in a Phase I program. Seattle Genetics filed an investigational new drug application to begin trials of SGN-10 in combination with chemotherapy. In preclinical studies, the drug in combination with taxanes demonstrated antitumor activity in models of colon, breast, lung and prostate cancers.

In the preclinical stage, the company has SGN-14 and SGN-30 for hematologic malignancies and SGN-17/19 for metastatic melanoma.

LJL Biosystems Seeks About $70M

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based LJL filed a registration statement for a proposed offering of up to 2.5 million shares of common stock, which would raise the company about $70 million based on its closing stock price on Monday of $28.

The company¿s stock (NASDAQ:LJLB) closed Tuesday at $25.

The filing includes another 375,000 shares issuable upon exercise of the underwriters¿ overallotment option. FleetBoston Robertson Stephens Inc. and Chase H&Q, both of New York, will act as co-lead underwriters of the offering. Dain Rauscher Wessels, of Minneapolis, is acting as co-manager.

In its SEC filing, LJL said it expects to raise net proceeds of $65.3 million, assuming a public offering price of $28 per share. If the overallotment option is fully exercised, it expects net proceeds of about $75.2 million.

The company will have 17.25 million shares outstanding and $92.2 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments following the offering. It completed a $19 million private placement in February. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 4, 2000, p. 2.)

It will use the net proceeds to fund research and development and sales of marketing activities, especially those relating to its genomics and consumables business. Funds also will go to investments in manufacturing, administrative infrastructure, working capital and other general corporate purposes, which may include the acquisition of technologies, products and businesses.

LJL supplies infrastructure tools to companies searching for new medicines. Its products, marketed as Criterion, consist of instruments and consumables. In August, the company launched its Genomics Science Group to commercialize its technology in single nucleotide polymorphisms.

GelTex Raises $35M Privately

GelTex sold 1.75 million newly issued shares of stock at $20 per share to certain institutional investors, raising $35 million.

The Waltham, Mass.-based company also entered into an agreement with Acqua Wellington North American Equities Fund Ltd., of New York, for a financing facility covering the sale of up to 1.75 million shares over the next year. GelTex, which controls the amount and timing of stock sold, can sell the shares at a small discount to market.

The company¿s stock (NASDAQ:GELX) closed Tuesday at $19.187, down $1.62. At that price, the company would raise an additional $33.6 million in the agreement with Acqua Wellington.

In February, GelTex filed a shelf registration with the SEC covering the sale of up to 3.5 million shares. At that time, it listed a proposed maximum offering price of $17.88 per share, expecting to raise gross proceeds of $62.58 million, an amount the company said would carry it through at least 2002.

The company said it will use proceeds from the financings to support its research, drug discovery and development programs, as well as to increase the manufacturing capacity for Cholestagel (colesevelam hydrochloride) and other general corporate purposes.

GelTex received approval in October 1998 from the FDA for its lead product, Renagel capsules (sevelamer hydrochloride), for the treatment of elevated serum phosphorous levels in end-stage renal disease patients. The company filed a new drug application last July seeking approval of Cholestagel for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia, a condition characterized by high blood cholesterol levels. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 2, 1999, p. 1.)

The company also has drug programs in anti-obesity and infectious diseases.

Genomica Raises $15M In Series C Financing

Privately held genomics software company Genomica Corp. raised $15 million in a private placement of Series C preferred stock that will help the company advance product development efforts.

The funding, secured from selected institutional and accredited investors, also will provide working capital for Boulder, Colo.-based Genomica.

The company, which was founded in 1996, raised $7 million in October 1997 and another $13.6 million in a Series B financing last year. (See BioWorld Today, March 2, 1999, p. 2.)

It entered into its first two software licensing deals in July 1998 with London-based Glaxo Wellcome plc and with Oxagen Ltd., of Abingdon, UK. The deals involve Genomica¿s lead software system, Discovery Manager. (See BioWorld Today, July 20, 1998, p. 1.)

Genomica also has license agreements for Discovery Manager with Clingenix Inc., of San Carlos, Calif.; the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, of Oxford, UK; the University of Oxford in the UK; the Parke-Davis division of Warner-Lambert Co., of Morris Plains, N.J.; Biognosis Inc., of Bethesda, Md.; and others.

The company¿s software system combines clinical, epidemiology, genetic and molecular biology applications into a single software package, allowing investigators to focus on several areas at once. The software is used in the gene discovery process to mine genomics information and accelerate the time it takes to bring new drugs to market.

Genomica¿s president and chief scientist, Thomas Marr, founded the company to commercialize the tools he and his team developed at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.

Biopure Prices Offering, Raises $35M

Biopure Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., priced its public offering of 2.5 million shares of common stock at $35 per share. The offering will raise the company net proceeds of $81.6 million.

The company granted the underwriters a 30-day option to buy 375,000 additional shares to cover overallotments. If exercised in full, the overallotment would raise the company another $13.125 million.

Biopure filed for the offering in February. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 16, 2000, p. 5.)

It plans to use proceeds for pre-marketing and marketing expenditures for Hemopure, as well as clinical trials of Hemopure, and for the expansion of the company¿s existing manufacturing facility. Funds also will go toward the engineering and site selection of a new manufacturing facility, as well as for capital expenditures and general corporate purposes.

Hemopure is a purified, modified bovine hemoglobin, which is in Phase III trials as an alternative to red blood cell transfusions before, during and after surgeries.

Biopure will have 24.8 million outstanding shares of common stock and $112.4 million in cash and cash equivalents following the offering.

Its stock (NASDAQ:BPUR) closed Tuesday at $34.02, down $1.23.

Emisphere Completes Offering, Raising $188M

Emisphere Technologies Inc., of Tarrytown, N.Y., completed its offering of 2.75 million shares at a price of $72.75 per share, the opening price on Tuesday. The offering raised the company about $188 million after expenses.

The company intended to raise about $129.5 million net through the sale of 2.5 million shares when it filed for the offering in February. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 16, 2000, p. 5.)

It registered Tuesday to sell an additional 250,000 shares, as well as 37,500 to cover overallotments. The original overallotment option was for 375,000 shares. If the overallotments are exercised in full, the company would raise an additional $30 million gross.

Emisphere¿s stock (NASDAQ:EMIS) closed Tuesday at $65.50, down $7.50.

Proceeds will be used to fund development of preclinical programs, to fund the Phase III program for oral heparin, and for general corporate purposes. The company will have about 17.3 million shares outstanding following the offering. It had cash of $20.4 million on Oct. 31.

The company is looking for a marketing partner for heparin, which is being tested for the prevention of deep-vein thrombosis.

Viragen Agrees To $60M Financing

Viragen Inc. plans to raise $60 million in an equity financing through Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. In December, Viragen, of Plantation, Fla., and Ladenburg, of New York, agreed to a proposed financing of $30 million for use over two years. The companies expect the increased financing goal of $60 million will be reached by the end of this year.

Viragen said it will use the funding for corporate purposes, including its collaboration with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to develop a human monoclonal antibody for melanoma. It also will go toward its Phase II European trials of Omniferon for hepatitis C, and its collaboration with CryoLife Inc., of Atlanta, using a drug delivery system that enables tumors to be targeted for the release of Viragen¿s anticancer proteins.

Omniferon is a natural interferon product produced using human white blood cells.

As of early March, Viragen had 7.17 million shares of common stock outstanding. Its stock (OTCBB:VRGN) closed Tuesday at $3.75, down $1.