Oclassen Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Thursday said it hascompleted a $15 million private offering of series D preferredstock, almost double the $8 million the company had expectedto raise.

Glenn Oclassen, the company's founder and chairman, toldBioWorld that the strong investor interest was based on threepositive developments: marketing approval last December forCondylox, the first treatment approved for patient applicationagainst external genital warts; the hiring in January of TerryJohnson as the company's president and chief executive officer;and the signing this month of a co-marketing deal for Condyloxwith Burroughs Wellcome Co.

All existing Oclassen venture capital investors participated:Fairfield Venture Partners; 3i Securities Corp.; MontgomeryMedical Ventures; Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co.; First CenturyPartners; Grace Horn Ventures; and Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.New investors were BMA Corp., Bessemer Venture Partners,Phoenix Partners and Japan Associated Finance Co. Ltd.

Oclassen, which is privately held, licenses products that itdevelops for small-to-medium-size niche markets in thedermatology and anti-viral areas that the big drug companiesavoid, said Glenn Oclassen. The San Rafael, Calif.-basedcompany acquires products with a lead time of less than fiveyears from initial acquisition to the filing of a new drugapplication with the Food and Drug Administration.

Oclassen has raised $25.5 million in four rounds of financing.

-- Karen Bernstein BioWorld Staff

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