Genta Inc. announced Tuesday that it will not proceed with itsproposed follow-on public offering of $2.5 million shares ofcommon stock because of current market conditions.

Genta's common stock (NASDAQ:GNTA) traded near $13 a sharein January and closed at $11.50 when it filed for the offeringon Feb. 12, but dropped almost 40 percent to close Monday at$7 a share, said Howard Sampson, vice president and controller.The stock picked up 50 cents a share on Tuesday, closing at$7.50.

The company's burn rate has been slightly over $1 million amonth, Sampson said. He added that Genta will seek alternativefinancing sources and also consider another public offeringwhen the market improves. Genta reported that it had $26.4million in cash at the end of 1992.

The offering would have been the second round of publicfinancing for the company, which grossed $28.75 million in aDecember 1991 initial public offering priced at $10 a share.The company has 13.6 million shares outstanding (14.5 millionshares on a fully diluted basis).

The San Diego company develops dermatology and controlled-release drugs for commercialization using patented Geomatrixdelivery technology, and is working to discover andmanufacture anticode oligonucleotides that could block diseaseat its genetic source. -- Nancy Garcia

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