IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corp. said Friday a public offering of 1.8million shares was priced at $24 per share.

The offering grossed $43.2 million for the San Diego company, about$3 million more than it appeared it would generate when IDECregistered for the offering. On May 3, 1996, IDEC's stock wastrading at $27.12 when it proposed the sale of 1.5 million shares.(See BioWorld Today, May 7, 1996, p. 1.)

The New York-based firms Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. and Punk,Ziegel & Knoell underwrote the offering, which is expected to closeTuesday.

"We got a very nice reception; the demand was good," said BillRastetter, IDEC's chairman, president and CEO. "We were verypleased with the offering."

He said proceeds are earmarked for establishing a sales andmarketing infrastructure and expanding manufacturing capacity, aswell as securing additional space and providing funds for the launchof the lead product, IDEC-C2B8.

IDEC-C2B8, an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, is in Phase III trialsfor relapsed low-grade and follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.Patient enrollment is completed. The product is being developed incollaboration with Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco.

Much of the work at IDEC has focused on development of part-human, part-macaque monkey antibodies the company calls"Primatized." All five antibody targets in IDEC's pipeline arepartnered, but there still are opportunities to form alliances for theproducts in certain geographical regions.

On March 31, 1996, IDEC had $26.6 million in cash and net incomefor the quarter of nearly $2 million. It now has about 16.8 millionshares outstanding.

Rastetter said IDEC brought in $14.5 million from corporatecollaborators in the second quarter, meaning the company now hasabout $80 million. IDEC doesn't anticipate using much cash thisyear. "The operating assumption is this will take us tocommercialization," he said.

The company's stock (NASDAQ:IDPH) fell 63 cents Friday to closeat $23.63. n

-- Jim Shrine

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.