A week after shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. jumped on positive Phase III Phenoptin data, the company priced concurrent public offerings to raise a total of $267 million.

The Novato, Calif.-based firm agreed to sell 9 million shares of its common stock at $13 each, or $117 million, with an option to underwriters to purchase about 1.4 million shares for an extra $17.6 million.

In addition, BioMarin also is selling $150 million in aggregate principal amount of its 2.5 percent senior subordinated convertible notes due 2013 in a separate underwritten public offering. Underwriters will be allowed to purchase an additional $22.5 million of notes to cover overallotments.

If overallotments are exercised in full in both offerings, money to BioMarin could total $284.6 million.

Susan Ferris, senior manager of BioMarin’s corporate communications, said the company was in a quiet period but referred to its prospectus that said proceeds would support commercialization efforts, additional clinical trials of Phenoptin (sapropterin dihydrochloride), preclinical and clinical testing of other product candidates and for general corporate purposes. Some funds also could be put toward acquisition costs related to the purchase of the company’s manufacturing facility in Novato, and BioMarin might use a portion of the proceeds to purchase some or all of its 3.5 percent convertible subordinated notes due 2008.

Shares of BioMarin (NASDAQ:BMRN) gained 19 cents Friday to close at $13.32.

The company’s biggest news of late has been its oral small-molecule drug Phenoptin, which hit all its primary and secondary endpoints in a Phase III study in phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare genetic metabolic condition that affects about 50,000 people in the developed world. Data reported earlier this month showed Phenoptin demonstrated a reduction at six weeks in blood phenylalanine levels when compared to placebo, sending the company’s stock up nearly 12 percent to close at $13.92. (See BioWorld Today, March 17, 2006.)

BioMarin expects to file for marketing approval in the U.S. and Europe in early 2007, following the completion of an ongoing 22-week open-label extension study designed to assess the drug's long-term safety and efficacy. The company plans to market the product in the U.S. and has licensed ex-U.S. rights, with the exception of Japan, to Geneva-based Serono SA.

Phenoptin rights in Japan are licensed to Tokyo-based Daiichi Suntory Pharma Co. Ltd.

Along with PKU, BioMarin is investigating Phenoptin in cardiovascular indications and is planning a Phase II trial in resistant hypertension later this year.

The company also has Vibrilase, a topical enzyme therapy that has completed a Phase Ib trial and is designed to improve the debridement of serious burns and wounds. There also is Phenylase (phenylalanine ammonia lyase), in preclinical testing to treat severe PKU.

In June, the company launched Naglazyme (galsulfase), an enzyme-replacement therapy for mucopolysaccharidosis VI (MPS VI). That product pulled in $3.7 million in the fourth quarter.

Aldurazyme (laronidase), an enzyme-replacement therapy for MPS I, is marketed through a joint venture with Cambridge, Mass.-based Genzyme Corp. Fourth-quarter sales totaled $21.2 million, with BioMarin’s share at $3.1 million.

The company recently out-licensed North American rights to its Orapred product line, which includes the marketed prednisolone sodium phosphate oral solution, as well as the orally disintegrating tablets that are on file with the FDA. In that deal, Alliant Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Alpharetta, Ga., agreed to pay BioMarin $2.5 million up front, plus up to $15.5 million in milestone payments.

Orapred is used to treat exacerbations of asthma and other inflammatory diseases in children.

BioMarin reported a net loss of $15 million, or 20 cents per share for the fourth quarter. As of Dec. 31, its cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments came to $64.8 million.

Merrill Lynch & Co., of New York, is acting as sole book-running manager of both offerings. New York firms Cowen & Co. and Rodman & Renshaw, along with Boston-based Leerink Swann & Co. and San Francisco-based Pacific Growth Equities LLC, are serving as co-managers of the stock offering.

Following the offering, the company will have 83.7 million shares outstanding.