Drawing off a $75 million shelf registration filed last fall, Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc. decided to sell 4.75 million shares at $4.43 per share, raising gross proceeds of $21 million.

The South San Francisco-based company already had $53.1 million in cash, equivalents and marketable securities at the end of the first quarter. With only $1.8 million in debt and a burn rate of about $9 million per quarter, Sunesis now has more than two years worth of runway.

Executives could not comment due to quiet period restrictions, but the registration statement for the shelf states that proceeds will be used for product discovery and development, debt repayment, general corporate purposes, and potential in-licensing activities.

Sunesis' lead product, the cell-cycle inhibitor SNS-595, is in Phase II trials for small-cell lung cancer. The company recently decided not to advance a program in non-small-cell lung cancer, but work continues in acute leukemia and ovarian cancer.

In the first quarter, Sunesis initiated a Phase I trial in B cell malignancies with the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor SNS-032, which also has been studied in solid tumors. Also in the first quarter, the company filed an investigational new drug application with aurora kinase inhibitor SNS-314, which is slated to enter the clinic for solid tumors by the end of the second quarter.

Sunesis' discovery programs center on its Tethering fragment-based drug discovery platform, which also forms the basis for several pharma partnerships.

Lehman Brothers Inc. is acting as sole book-running manager for the offering, which is expected to close around May 30. Cowen & Co. LLC is serving as lead manager, with C.E. Unterberg Towbin LLC serving as co-manager. Shares of Sunesis (NASDAQ:SNSS) fell 8 cents on Thursday to close at $4.35.

In other financing news:

• Allos Therapeutics Inc., of Westminster, Colo., filed a universal shelf registration statement with the SEC to raise up to $150 million. The company ended the first quarter with $75.5 million in cash and said it has no specific plans to offer the securities. If and when it does, proceeds would be used to fund late-stage clinical trials of radiation sensitizer Efaproxyn (efaproxiral) and antifolate PDX (pralatrexate), to support potential commercialization of Efaproxyn, for other development activities, or for general corporate purposes.

• BCY LifeSciences Inc., of Toronto, closed its previously announced C$1 million (US$922,159) private placement. The company sold 20 million units at C5 cents per unit, with each unit consisting of a common share and a warrant for the purchase of one additional common share at C10 cents within two years. The company plans to acquire and develop drug candidates.

• BaroFold Inc., of Boulder, Colo., raised $12 million in a Series A financing co-led by HBM BioVentures Ltd. and Boulder Ventures Ltd. with participation by the Peierls Foundation and other seed round investors. Proceeds will be used to support development of BaroFold's pipeline of protein therapeutics based on its PreEMT technology. The technology involves the use of high hydrostatic pressure to disaggregate and refold proteins, resulting in a safer drug with fewer aggregates in the product formulation.

• CardioVascular BioTherapeutics Inc., of Las Vegas, secured $15 million in a private placement of 15 million shares at $1 each to Swiss investor FirmInvest AG. The sale price represents a premium to the shares' (OTC BB:CVBT) Wednesday closing price of 73 cents. Proceeds will be used to advance angiogenic protein products based on human FGF-1 through Phase II trials for coronary heart disease and other programs.

• Ceapro Inc., of Edmonton, Alberta, plans to raise up to C$2 million (US$1.8 million) through a private placement brokered by Northern Securities Inc. Ceapro will offer units for C$0.31, with each unit consisting of a common share and half a warrant. Each whole warrant can be converted to one common share at C$0.45 within 20 months. Ceapro formulates organic components for cosmetic, medical and animal products and markets the CeaProve diabetes diagnostic.

• Helicos Biosciences Corp., of Cambridge, Mass., priced its initial public offering of 5.4 million shares at $9 per share, bringing in net proceeds of $43.2 million. The company initially had hoped to price between $13 and $15 per share, but then lowered its target to $10 to $11 per share. Proceeds will be used to commercialize HeliScope, an ultra-high-throughput genetic analysis system. UBS Investment Bank is acting as the sole book-running manager for the offering, with J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. acting as a joint lead manager and Leerink Swann & Co. and Pacific Growth Equities LLC acting as co-managers. On the first day of trading, shares of Helicos (NASDAQ:HLCS) fell 53 cents to close at $8.47.

• IntelGenx Technologies Corp., of St. Laurent, Quebec, completed the sale of $1.5 million in secured convertible debentures to certain institutional and accredited investors. The 8 percent, 28-month debentures are convertible into common stock at $0.70 per share. Investors also got five-year warrants on shares equal to the number underlying the debentures. They are exercisable at $1.02 per share. IntelGenx focuses on oral controlled-release products and rapidly disintegrating delivery systems.

• IRX Therapeutics, of New York, raised an additional $12.5 million through a convertible note offering. The company in March 2006 reported another $12.5 million sale of convertible notes. It now has raised more than $35 million in private financing. Funds will be used to further develop its products for cancer and viral diseases, including lead product IRX-2, an immunotherapeutic for cancer that is in Phase II trials.

• NitroMed Inc., of Lexington, Mass., raised net proceeds of $18.3 million through a registered direct offering of 7.6 million shares priced at $2.60 per share. Thomas Weisel Partners LLC acted as the sole placement agent. The funding will be used to support commercialization of BiDil (isosorbide dinitrate/hydralazine hydrochloride) and development of an extended-release version, as well as for general corporate purposes. Shares of NitroMed (NASDAQ:NTMD) fell 19.9 percent, or 65 cents, to $2.62 on Thursday, reflecting the discount pricing on the offering.

• Viropro Inc., of Montreal, closed a C$1.4 million (US$1.3 million) debenture opened in March 2006 and payable in five tranches over the past year. Viropro specializes in transferring the technology for industrial production of off-patent therapeutic proteins to developing countries.