ImClone Systems Inc. benefited from its recent increase in stockprice with the sale of 2.2 million shares Wednesday to a group ofinstitutional investors.

The New York company sold the shares at $6.63 each for a gross of$14.6 million. Genesis Merchant Group Securities, of San Francisco,was the selling agent. The stock (NASDAQ:IMCL) gained 13 centsWednesday to close at $7.

This past November ImClone sold 3 million shares at $3.75 apiecefor gross proceeds of $11.25 million. The new financing, consideringthe company's burn rate of $1 million per month, should leaveImClone with about $23 million in cash. It has nearly 19 millionshares outstanding.

Andrea Rabney, ImClone's director of corporate development andinvestor relations, said an institution came to ImClone with interest ininvesting, and company officials decided to go ahead with the sale.

ImClone's lead product is C225, an epidermal growth factor receptorantagonist being tested in Phase Ib/IIa studies. One study involvesC225 as a single agent against EGFr-positive cancers; another isstudying the agent in combination with cisplatin in lung and head andneck cancers; and a third study involves the EGFr antagonist andadriamycin in late-stage carcinomas. Additional studies andindications are expected, Rabney said.

ImClone also has two cancer vaccines in Phase Ib/IIa studies and aseparate, preclinical program in angiogenesis. _ Jim Shrine

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