Hyal Pharmaceutical Corp. announced Wednesday that it hascompleted a private placement of 2.3 million common sharesfor an aggregate subscription price of US$8 million. TheMississauga, Ontario, company said that with the closing of theplacement it has 17.8 million common shares outstanding.

Hyal's last private placement was in 1990, when it raised$740,000. As of June 1993, the company had $7.5 million incash and cash equivalents.

The company said the proceeds from the financing will be usedprimarily to expand R&D activities of its hyaluronic acid drug-delivery technologies and as general working capital. Thecompany said it expects that "a significant portion of theseproceeds will be used in the expansion of R&D for thetreatment of cardiovascular disease and anti-angiogenesis."This area of research is in the preclinical phase.

Hyal has three compounds in Phase III trials, all of whichcontain the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenacwith hyaluronic acid. HYAL-CT1101 is a topical formulation forthe treatment of basal cell carcinoma and actinic keratosis,HYAL-AT2101 is a topical treatment for pain and HYAL-2201is an intravenous formulation for moderate to severe pain.

In December, Hyal's Australian subsidiary, Hyal PharmaceuticalAustralia Ltd., filed for a public offering of 20 million shares ofcommon stock at 34 cents per share (see BioWorld, Dec. 10). --Brenda Sandburg

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