This month's flat stock market hasn't stopped biotechcompanies from filing for public stock offerings. The financingqueue continues to be replenished as quickly as offerings arecompleted.

Several of the leading stock market averages have hoveredwithin a narrow range this month. The Dow Jones IndustrialAverage is down 1.2 percent and the NASDAQ Composite Indexis down 2.7 percent. The AMEX Biotechnology Index is down3.6 percent, but it has been moving in a narrow range between191.88 and 201.6 since Feb. 26.

But so far this month, two initial public offerings and threesecondaries have been completed, while five companies havefiled for IPOs and four have filed secondaries.

The most recent entrant is ProCyte Corp. (NASDAQ:PRCY), whichon Friday said it has filed for a secondary offering of 2 millionshares of common stock.

The Kirkland, Wash., company's last offering was its November1989 IPO, in which the company sold 1.3 million shares at $8.The stock closed unchanged on Friday at $10.13.

ProCyte's Iamin, a peptide-copper compound, is in Phase IItrials for diabetic ulcers. The company is just finishingEuropean Phase II trials of Tricomin, its hair-growth enhancer.That product is in preclinical testing in the United States. Thecompany filed on Friday to begin expanded Phase I/II trials ofits Iamin-IB for inflammatory bowel disease.

The company is seeking corporate partners. Last April,Schering-Plough Corp. and ProCyte terminated a 1989agreement to develop Iamin for wound healing.

If ProCyte completes its offering, it will have 8 million sharesoutstanding. Underwriters William Blair & Co. andOppenheimer & Co. Inc. have a 300,000-share overallotmentoption.

-- Karen Bernstein BioWorld Staff

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