By Mary Welch

Myriad Genetics Inc. registered to sell 2 million shares, which at Monday¿s opening price of $165.50 would yield about $327 million.

Myriad¿s stock (NASDAQ:MYGN) closed Monday at $163.375, up $13.25.

The Salt Lake City-based company intends to use the proceeds for drug discovery as well as research and development. After the offering, the company will have 12.3 million shares outstanding. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and CIBC World Markets, both of New York, are managing underwriters. Dain Rauscher Wessels, of Minneapolis, and Tucker Anthony Cleary Gull, of Chicago, also are underwriting the offering.

They will be granted an option to purchase another 300,000 shares to cover overallotments.

Myriad uses gene-based medicine to develop therapeutic and diagnostic products. To date, it has identified 19 drug targets and delivered 10 of those targets to various strategic partners based on its discovery of genes involved in breast, ovarian, brain and prostate cancers, as well as heart disease and dementia. The company has received more than $100 million from its seven partners.

Current partners include Bayer Corp., of Pittsburgh; Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis; Monsanto Co., of St. Louis; Schering-Plough Corp., of Madison, N.J.; and Schering AG, of Berlin.

In addition, the company has nine new drug targets that it has retained for its own small-molecule drug development program. The company anticipates entering into future partnerships for clinical development for some of the targets. However, it may internally commercialize some of these drug targets, particularly in the area of cancer, it said in its filing.

One of Myriad¿s products is ProNet, a proprietary proteomic database, which is used to discover disease pathways, understand protein function and identify high-quality drug targets. Using ProNet, researchers can discover and evaluate the potential modifying or disrupting of these protein pathways in order to disrupt the disease process.

Earlier this year, Myriad expanded its ProNet collaboration with G.D. Searle & Co., Monsanto¿s pharmaceutical division. The expansion added another undisclosed disease pathway and provides for continued research funding for the previous two disease pathways. The new deal could be worth up to $13 million plus royalties for Myriad. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 21, 2000, p. 1.)

Also this year, Myriad added Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., of Nutley, N.J., as a ProNet collaborator. The companies entered into a $13 million deal to discover drug targets to treat heart disease. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 6, 2000, p. 1.)

The latest financial statement released covered the company¿s second-quarter 2000 figures, which ended Dec. 31. For that quarter, the company had revenues of $8.2 million, and a net loss of $1.8 million, or 19 cents per share.