By Mary Welch

Visible Genetics Inc. raised US$28.74 million with a private placement of 1.916 million common shares at US$15 each. The company plans to use the funds to step up the marketing and manufacturing efforts in the U.S. for TRUGENE HIV-1 Genotyping Kit.

The per-share price represents an 8.4 percent discount to the Toronto-based company¿s closing stock price of Dec. 7, the date the offering was priced. European and U.S. institutional investors, including T. Rowe Price, of Baltimore, participated in the sale. Paine Webber Inc. and BancBoston Robertson Stephens Inc, both of New York, handled the placement. The company now has about 11 million shares outstanding.

¿Since July, we¿ve raised $60 million,¿ said Richard Daly, the company¿s president and CEO. ¿We¿ve really recapitalized the company. This money will take us through our FDA filing for Trugene.¿

Trugene HIV-1 Genotyping kit can sequence HIV-1, thereby helping doctors prescribe better treatment plans, he said. Earlier this month, the FDA said it did not require the company to complete its clinical trials, called SEARCH. The regulatory agency did not require further demonstration of the clinical utility of HIV genotyping in the treatment of HIV-infected individuals. However, Visible Genetics still will be required to complete its proficiency trial, which is under way.

¿We expect to submit a 510(k) application with the FDA in the first half of 2000,¿ Daly said. ¿We don¿t know how long the FDA will take to rule on it, so we have no launch date.¿

Visible Genetics¿ stock (NASDAQ:VGIN) closed Thursday at $28, up $2.625.