Array BioPharma Inc. raised $91 million in a public offering of stock, money that will be used to fund development of its broad, early stage pipeline of small-molecule drug candidates for cancer and inflammatory diseases.

The Boulder, Colo., company has eight programs in early trials or about to move into the clinic, as well as other products being developed by partners. It sold 7 million shares from a shelf registration at $13 per share. Net proceeds are expected to total about $85.2 million.

Array's stock (NASDAQ:ARRY) fell 61 cents Wednesday to close at $12.92.

Underwriters have an overallotment option to purchase 1.05 million additional shares, which, if exercised in full, would bring in another $13.65 million. The deal is expected to close Monday.

Array, which has about 10 partnerships ongoing or completed, has signaled its intention to retain more upside in certain deals going forward, as evidenced by a collaboration in March under which it licensed a preclinical Toll-like receptor program to VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. Array got an equity position in San Diego-based VentiRx and an option to acquire 50 percent ownership of resulting cancer products, as well as an up-front payment and potential milestones and royalties.

The company's lead program, which is focused on inhibitors of MEK for cancer indications, is partnered with AstraZeneca plc, which has Phase II trials of ARRY-866 (AZD6244) ongoing in melanoma and colorectal, pancreatic and non-small-cell lung cancers. AstraZeneca, of London, also recently began a Phase I trial of the MEK inhibitor ARRY-704. Array retains rights to MEK inhibitors outside oncology.

On its own, Array has six small-molecule products in eight programs in early trials or about to enter clinical development. It also has a number of discovery programs, from which it expects to generate two to three investigational new drug applications per year over the next three years, while potentially outlicensing others.

The eight most advanced programs fully owned by Array are ARRY-543, an ErbB-2 (Her-2/neu)/EGFR dual inhibitor, for which a Phase II trial is planned for the second half of this year; ARRY-162, a MEK inhibitor expected to enter Phase IIa trials later this year for inflammation; ARRY-797, a p38 inhibitor in Phase I trials in inflammation and for cancer; ARRY-520, a kinesin spindle protein inhibitor for cancer about to enter Phase I trials; ARRY-380, an ErbB-2 inhibitor for cancer for which an IND is expected to be filed this year; and ARRY-614, a p38 and Tie2 dual inhibitor for which INDs are expected later this year in inflammation and cancer indications.

Separately, InterMune Inc. recently began Phase I trials of ITMN-191, a hepatitis C virus NS3/4 protease inhibitor discovered in a collaboration between Array and InterMune.

Array also has a significant collaboration with Genentech Inc., which in 2005 added a third cancer program to the deal that was expected to bring Array $50 million in research funding through 2008. And it has a deal under which Ono Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. gained access to its drug discovery technology to develop small-molecule candidates against a series of kinases.

Array has about five other deals under which it remains entitled to research funding, milestone payments and/or royalties on sales.

Array said it has received about $240 million in up-front, research and milestone payments since its founding in 1998, with $260 million more in milestone payments possible under existing deals.

The company last week reported its third-quarter numbers for the period ending March 31. It had $29 million in revenues for the nine-month period, with a net loss of $38.2 million for the first three quarters of this year.

Array had $73.9 million in cash on March 31, and following the public offering has about 47 million shares outstanding, with another 7.3 million options outstanding with an average exercise price of $7.09 per share.

J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Banc of America Securities LLC are joint book-running managers of the offering. Jefferies & Co. Inc. and Piper Jaffray & Co. are co-managers.