Cambridge NeuroScience Inc. on Tuesday announced a filing fora public offering of 1.5 million shares.

The Cambridge, Mass., company is the fourth biotechnologycompany to launch a secondary offering this year aftercompleting an IPO during the weak market last spring.

The company's IPO was filed in April for 2 million shares.Completed in June, it raised $24 million, or $12 per share,well below the proposed $15-$17 per share.

Underwriters Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. andMontgomery Securities have an option to buy 225,000 shares tocover overallotments. There are 6.9 million shares outstanding.

The company on Monday said it had licensed a neuronal growthfactor, known as growth differentiation factor-1 (GDF-1),which was cloned by researchers at the Carnegie Institution ofWashington. Terms for the worldwide rights were notdisclosed.

GDF-1 joins three other neuronal growth factors under studyby the company for their potential use in neurodegenerativediseases and nerve regeneration.

A U.S. patent application has been filed for GDF-1. Thecompany's stock closed Tuesday at $11, down 88 cents.

-- Steve Usdin BioWorld Washington Bureau

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