By Karen Pihl-Carey

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. registered to sell 2 million shares in a public offering of common stock, a move expected to raise about $50 million plus proceeds from the underwriters' overallotment option.

The money would fund the Birmingham, Ala.-based company's drug development candidates that are in research and development or preclinical and clinical studies, including its lead flu drug candidate. It also would fund expanding facilities and personnel, as well as general corporate purposes.

The underwriters - Salomon Smith Barney Inc., of New York; Hambrecht & Quist LLC, of San Francisco; and Raymond James & Associates Inc., of New York - were granted an option to purchase 300,000 additional shares to cover overallotments. If exercised, the option would raise the company $7.5 million on top of the $50 million, based on a share price of $25, the proposed maximum in the company's S-3 filing.

BioCryst's stock (NASDAQ:BCRX), however, closed Friday at $24.50, down $1.

Company officials were in an SEC-imposed quiet period Friday and could not comment.

Just last month, BioCryst's stock soared 39.5 percent on news that its flu drug, RWJ-270201, formerly called BCX-1812, proved positive in a Phase II trial. Clinical results of the small-molecule drug showed statistical significance and that it was well tolerated by patients, the company said. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 25, 1999, p. 1.)

A BioCryst flu drug competitor was approved Friday by the Swiss Regulatory Authority for the treatment of influenza. Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., of Nutley, N.J., and Gilead Sciences Inc., of Foster City, Calif., co-developed Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate; formerly called GS4104), a neuraminidase inhibitor in pill formulation. Tamiflu will be available by prescription in Switzerland beginning in October. Other regulatory approvals worldwide, including in the U.S., are pending. Gilead's stock (NASDAQ:GILD) closed Friday at $77.312, up 50 cents.

Another competitor of BioCryst's potential drug is Relenza, London-based Glaxo Wellcome plc's inhaled neuraminidase-inhibitor flu therapy, which received marketing approval in July. (See BioWorld Today, July 28, 1999, p. 1.)

And Aviron, of Mountain View, Calif., has a nose-spray influenza vaccine, FluMist, for which it intends to file a biologics license application late this fall. Aviron filed a shelf registration earlier this month to offer up to $100 million in securities. (See BioWorld Today, Sept. 17, 1999, p. 1.)

BioCryst reported a net loss of $251,000 on revenues of $2.5 million for the second quarter ended June 30. At that time, the company had cash and investments of $24.3 million and about 15 million outstanding shares.

The offering, including the overallotment option, would give the company just over 17.5 million outstanding shares.

RWJ-270201 is a neuraminidase inhibitor designed to treat and prevent viral influenza. BioCryst has an exclusive worldwide license agreement with subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson, of New Brunswick, N.J. R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute and Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc., both of Raritan, N.J., have the responsibility for development, manufacture and commercialization of RWJ-270201. The companies are planning a Phase III trial of the drug during the 1999/2000 flu season.

BioCryst also is working on its purine nucleoside phosphorylase, or PNP, inhibitor program. Its lead candidate, BCX-34, has a novel mechanism for suppressing T-cell replication, which could impact diseases such as psoriasis, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and T-cell leukemia.