Avid Corp. said Tuesday that it closed on a $4.4 million secondround equity financing at a share price double that of its initialfinancing in 1993.

Avid, of Philadelphia, formerly was known as Avid TherapeuticsInc. That entity, as well as the recently acquired biosafety testingcompany, Quality Biotech Inc., now are subsidiaries of Avid Corp.

Those who invested in the February 1993 initial financing, andcontributing again, were Oxford Bioscience Partners, of Stamford,Conn.; BancBoston, of Boston; and MDS Health Ventures ofToronto. New investors were The Healthcare and BiotechnologyFund, of Toronto; MYCOsearch, of Durham, N.C.; PSA PeugeotCitroen, of Geneva, Switzerland; Norsk Hydro, of Oslo, Norway;and GIMV, of Antwerp, Belgium.

"This is a reaffirmation that the capital markets remain open tocompanies with strong science focused on important unmet clinicalneeds," said Forrest Anthony, Avid's CEO.

The company, according to executive vice president RichardDriansky, "has proprietary molecular targets that can be incorporatedin high-throughput assays to identify rapidly antiviral compounds.We have several compounds that have shown impressive activity incell-based assays against respiratory synctial virus and influenza," hetold BioWorld. "In addition, we have identified compounds that areworthy of further evaluation against hepatitis B."

Avid formed a strategic alliance last year with Morris Plains, N.J.-based Warner-Lambert Co. focusing on hepatitis B drugs. The dealincluded an undisclosed equity investment by Warner-Lambert.

Quality Biotech Inc., which tests, among other things, biologics andcell lines for viral contamination, has revenues of nearly $5 millionper year, Driansky said. That revenue and the new financing isexpected to last at least two years, he said.

Avid has academic collaborations with Emory University, of Atlanta,and the University of Chicago. _ Jim Shrine

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