By Lisa Seachrist

Washington Editor

Orchid BioSciences Inc., of Princeton, N.J., and Paradigm Genetics Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., intend to join the booming biotech sector with initial public offerings.

The two companies filed registration statements with Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday. Neither company disclosed the total number of shares they intended to offer or the proposed per-share price. Paradigm, however, indicated a maximum for the offering of $100 million.

Looking to become the leader in pharmacogenomics technology, Orchid BioSciences - formerly Orchid BioComputer - will take its business public. In January, Princeton, N.J.-based Orchid raised $72 million in a private placement and purchased Dallas-based GeneScreen Inc., the second largest provider of paternity testing and genetic diversity analysis. At that time, the company indicated it was considering an IPO in order to become the leader in the "post genomic" era. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 6, 2000, p. 1.)

Underwriters for the Orchid IPO include CS First Boston Corp., of New York; FleetBoston Robertson Stephens, of San Francisco; and Salomon Smith Barney Inc, of New York.

Since its inception in March 1995, Orchid has developed proprietary technologies to enhance the way companies generate information about single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) - single base-pair changes within genes that are thought to account for differences in how individuals respond to drugs. Applying this type of genetic diversity analysis could improve the effectiveness of existing drugs, lead to the development of highly specific and efficacious drugs and increase the likelihood of successful tissue transplants.

To accomplish its goal, Orchid has developed its Genetic Bit Analysis (GBA) technology, a primer-extension SNP scoring system designed to rapidly generate highly accurate information relating to SNPs as a very low cost. The company is combining this technology with its proprietary microfluidics technology to enable it to conduct ultra-high-throughput SNP scoring at its MegaSNPatron facility. The company intends to increase its throughput to millions of SNP scores per day and reduce the cost of SNP scoring to pennies per SNP score.

With this strategy, the company hopes to enable pharmaceutical companies to improve their identification of lead drug candidates for optimization and development. Orchid has teamed up with Affymetrix Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., to develop and commercialize SNP genotyping assays using GBA technology.

Affymetrix served as lead corporate investor for Orchid's most recent private placement; however, it doesn't own a significant share of Orchid. The largest shareholders prior to the IPO were OrbiMed Advisors LLC, of New York, with a 9.6 percent stake in Orchid; Oracle Strategic Partners LP, of New York, with 8.5 percent; INVESCO Global Health Science Fund, of Denver, with 6.6 percent; Sarnoff Corp., of Princeton, with 5.9 percent; and SmithKline Beecham plc, of London, with 5 percent.

Orchid proposed trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ORCH.

Functional genomics specialist Paradigm is seeking up to $100 million in its IPO. The company is industrializing the process of identifying gene function in an attempt to develop novel products in crop production, nutrition, human health and industrial products.

Chase Hambrecht & Quist LLC, of San Francisco; J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., of New York; Pacific Growth Equities Inc., of San Francisco; and Stephens Inc., of Little Rock, Ark., will serve as underwriters for the IPO.

Founded in September 1997 by executives from Research Triangle Park-based Novartis Crop Protection, a subsidiary of Novartis AG in Basel, Switzerland, the company has developed its GeneFunction Factory to simultaneously study the functions of many genes in a number of selected organisms. The company studies the effects of altered forms of a gene on an organism and analyzes those effects using its bioinformatics system, FunctionFinder. The company initially is studying the function of genes in Arabidopsis - a model organism related to soybeans, cotton, vegetables and oil seed crops - rice and six filamentous fungi.

Paradigm signed a deal with Monsanto Co., of St. Louis, to develop crop production and nutrition products (see BioWorld Today, Jan. 25, 2000, p. 1). The company also has a deal signed in September 1998 with Bayer AG, of Leverkusen, Germany, to find screening targets leading to new herbicides. (See BioWorld Today, Nov. 3, 1998, p. 1.)

Before the offering, Paradigm's major owners included Polaris Venture Funds with a 21.4 percent stake; Innotech Investments Ltd., with a 20.5 percent stake; Intersouth Partners, with a 19.2 percent stake; and the Burrill AgBio Capital Fund L.P., with 9.6 percent.

The company intends to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol PDGM.