Celtrix Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Friday it raised $1 million through theprivate placement of 156,000 shares of common stock with KingsburyCapital Partners L.P.The stock was sold at $6.45 per share, the average price over a 20-daytrading period. Celtrix (NASDAQ:CTRX) stock closed Friday at $7.75per share, up 25 cents.Tim Wollaeger, a member of Celtrix's board of directors, is the generalpartner of Kingsbury Capital of La Jolla, Calif.`We have an insider, a board member, putting his cash into thecompany," Sandra McNamara, vice president and chief financialofficer of Celtrix, told BioWorld. "That's a positive sign for currentinvestors and a positive for the company."Celtrix, of Santa Clara, Calif., now has 13.6 million shares outstandingand had about $33 million in cash on June 30, McNamara said. Thecompany is burning $4.5 million to $5 million per quarter, she said.The company's lead product is BetaKine, or recombinant transforminggrowth factor beta-2. Celtrix has rights to the product in all ophthalmicareas, where it is in Phase III testing for macular holes, Phase II formacular degeneration and Phase I/II for treatment of retinal edema.Genzyme Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., acquired rights to BetaKine inJune for all systemic and tissue-repair applications. A Phase I/II trialBetaKine for dermal wound repair is complete, and it is in a Phase Itrial for multiple sclerosis.Celtrix is developing SomatoKine, a recombinant complex of insulin-like growth factor and its binding protein, BP3, as a hormonereplacement therapy. In July, Celtrix licensed SomatoKine to the GreenCross Corp. of Japan for the treatment of osteoporosis in Japan.Neither SomatoKine nor transforming growth factor beta antagonistsunder development is in the clinic. n

-- Jim Shrine

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