Cambridge Biotech Corp. announced on Wednesday a shelfregistration of 4 million new shares of common stock. The saleof the shares is part of the Worcester, Mass., company's plan tooffset what it called "substantial" fourth-quarter losses.

Frederick Casselman, Cambridge Biotech's vice president oflegal affairs and technology licensing, told BioWorld that thecompany hopes to raise a fixed sum through a variety of meansand will sell as few of the 4 million new shares as necessary toreach this sum.

In addition to the sale of new shares, the company isconsidering expanding existing strategic alliances orestablishing new ones, and is selling assets or equity interest inits diagnostics business, Casselman said. The company alsohopes to consolidate its manufacturing operations into two sitesinstead of three and sell some of its real estate in Maryland.

Cambridge Biotech attributed its unspecified fourth-quarterloss to sluggish diagnostic product sales, which fell short ofinternal projections, and one-time charges recorded in thefourth quarter "principally as a result of asset re-evaluationand inventory obsolescence."

The company (NASDAQ:CBCX) reported a net loss of about $9.5million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 1993, comparedwith a net loss of $6.3 million for the same period in 1992.Revenues were down to $25.5 million from $30.1 million andthe company reported 23.3 million shares outstanding on Sept.30.

Casselman said the company does not plan to make a formaloffering of the new shares, and is now beginning privatediscussions with current and potential investors.

Cambridge Biotech's stock closed unchanged on Wednesday at$2.50 a share.

-- Karl A. Thiel Special to BioWorld

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