A month after the Nov. 15 sell-off of biotech stocks, it's clearthat the market correction has neither damaged the publicofferings market nor put much of a dent in prices.

The pace and success of public offerings barely paused. SinceNov. 15, biotech companies have raised a total of $844 millionon the public market, excluding overallotments.

Those numbers include the largest single financing in thehistory of the industry and the third-largest biotech initialpublic offering ever. Synergen Inc. raised $225.4 million in asecondary offering, including a 525,000-share overallotment,and Affymax N.V.'s IPO has grossed $92 million, including $12million added on Wednesday through the sale of its 600,000-share overallotment.

Altogether, five initial public offerings have grossed $225million, 11 secondary offerings have raised $569 million, andone spin-off has raised $50 million.

Despite the fact that the market on Nov. 15 gave back most ofthe quarter's early gains, 14 biotech-related stocks stood morethan 50 percent higher at the close of trading on Wednesdaythan they did at the end of September.

The biggest winners among stocks priced over $5 includeLiposome Technology Inc., which gained 360 percent to $19;ProCyte Corp., which rose 95 percent to $10; and U.S. BioScienceInc., which was up 94 percent to $74.75.

Losses were more modest, with 14 stocks falling 10 percent to30 percent. Four companies were down more than 30 percent.

-- Karen Bernstein BioWorld Staff

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