Gensia Pharmaceuticals Inc. of San Diego said Tuesday that itwas returning to the financial well for a secondary public stockoffering H just eight months after an initial public offering(IPO) raised more than $28 million.

Gensia (NASDAQ:GNSA) could raise $30 million more from the 2million-share secondary offering registered on Tuesday withthe Securities and Exchange Commission. Underwriters, led byAlex. Brown & Sons Inc. of Baltimore and MontgomerySecurities of San Francisco, have options to purchase up to300,000 more shares through an overallotment.

"We hope there's a window" on the public offering market, saidMartha L. Hough, director of planning and administration forthe 5-year-old company. "And we hope we're in it."

Gensia, which initially considered a private instead of a publicoffering, was helped by a rising stock price, which has climbed61 percent so far this year. Gensia stock closed Tuesday at$15.13 a share, down 12 cents.

Gensia, which is developing drugs for treating cardiovasculardisease, last June sold 2.8 million shares at $11 each in thebiotechnology industry's largest IPO of 1990.

Proceeds from the secondary offering would be used in part toreplenish corporate funds, which were reduced by its $15million purchase last month of Kendall McGaw Pharmaceuticalsof Irvine, Calif. Funds would also be used to finish acephalosporin production plant. -- Carol Ezzell

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