Curis Inc. gained about $10 million in net proceeds through a private placement of its common stock.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based company entered definitive agreements to sell about 3.6 million shares at $3.03 apiece, for a total of about $10.9 million, as well as warrants to purchase about 1.1 million additional shares.

Terms of the warrants were not disclosed. Company officials could not be reached for comment.

On Monday, Curis' stock (NASDAQ:CRIS) fell 40 cents, or 11.4 percent, to close at $3.12. The company, which lost about $5 million during the quarterly period ended June 30, reported $34.7 million in cash and investment holdings at the time. It has about 36.3 million shares outstanding.

Little Rock, Ark.-based Stephens Inc. was the transaction's placement agent.

Curis, which is developing proteins and small molecules to modulate pathways that control repair and regeneration, said it would use the proceeds to push its clinical and research and development efforts, and for other general corporate purposes.

Curis recently entered a deal through which it could gain up to $240 million after licensing its small-molecule and antibody inhibitors of the Hedgehog signaling pathway for use in cancer to Genentech Inc. The agreement included $12.5 million in guaranteed money from South San Francisco-based Genentech, with development and approval milestones that could push it toward the top-end range. (See BioWorld Today, June 12, 2003.)

The partnership included Curis' CUR-61414 program, which it has developed for basal cell carcinoma. Preclinical work has pointed to the molecule's efficacy against different cancers as well.