Ophidian Pharmaceuticals Inc. has raised more than $2.6million in a private placement of approximately 580,000shares.

The Regulation D offering of about 9.7 percent of the privatecompany's outstanding common stock started April 7 and wasexpanded due to additional investor interest. The offering wasintended to raise a maximum of $2.25 million in equityinvestment.

Ophidian's first private placement of stock and warrants inDecember 1991 raised $3 million, Douglas Stafford, companypresident, told BioWorld.

Since then the company has obtained a patent for its antidotetechnology, arranged clinical and commercial developmentpartnerships, and obtained small business innovation research(SBIR) grants -- achievements that Stafford said helped theoffering succeed.

The company has developed new and improved antidotes forsnakebite and food poisoning, but its long-term focus is ondeveloping products to treat and prevent infectious diseases.

Based in Madison, Wis., Ophidian is using proprietarytechnology to prevent microbial infections of thegastrointestinal tract in patients with AIDS and other immune-suppressing conditions.

The company is also developing treatments through aproprietary drug-design method called "immunobiotics" forlife-threatening bacterial infections. Immunobiotics is intendedto create compounds that act against bacteria, Stafford said,and against the bacterial components that cause septic shock.

Regulation D, designed as a less burdonsome way for smallcompanies to raise money, requires high net-worth investorswho are supposed to be sophisticated enough to understand therisks and be able to absorb any potential loss. It allows thecompany to avoid the expense of registering with the Securitiesand Exchange Commission.

-- Nancy Garcia Associate Editor

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