From IPOs to follow-on public offerings, the industry's financing engine on Thursday turned out fund-raising opportunities for a trio of companies.

Genitope Corp. is planning its initial public offering, the second biotech sector IPO filing this week, but only the third this year. The Redwood City, Calif.-based company filed a registration statement with the SEC related to the proposed $68.8 million offering, through which it will offer all the common shares.

Last week, Germantown, Md.-based Advancis Pharmaceutical Corp. filed for an $86.25 million offering. The rarity of recent biotech IPOs signals a difficult foundation for such offerings over the past two-plus years, according to BioWorld Snapshots, which revealed only five IPOs in the sector last year and 10 in 2001. In comparison, 83 biotech companies went public in 2000. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 5, 2003.)

Genitope did not disclose the number of shares it expects to offer nor their price range. But it eventually plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol "GTOP."

The cancer therapeutics company said in its prospectus it plans to use net proceeds to fund clinical trials and other research and development expenses. Such efforts primarily relate to Genitope's lead product candidate, MyVax personalized immunotherapy, which is in a Phase III trial. The patient-specific active immunotherapy is based on the unique genetic makeup of a patient's tumor and is designed to activate the patient's immune system to identify and attack cancerous cells.

Genitope is evaluating MyVax in a number of settings, most notably in a pivotal, 360-patient, double-blind, controlled trial for B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Subject to eventual FDA approval, the company plans to spend additional IPO proceeds to scale up its manufacturing capabilities and build an internal sales force.

MyVax, which has been found to be safe and well tolerated, also remains in additional Phase II trials for the same indication. Should the FDA sanction the product, Genitope plans to seek approval overseas and then push for approvals in other types of B-cell cancers. The company said it plans to begin a Phase II trial next year to evaluate its use in treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

The injectable product combines a patient- and tumor-specific antibody, or idiotype protein, with a foreign carrier protein and is administered with an adjuvant. It was developed with the company's Hi-GET gene-amplification technology and administered during a 30-minute outpatient visit.

Genitope said it expects to apply its Hi-GET technology beyond MyVax to produce target proteins for other immunotherapies, such as monoclonal antibodies used in passive immunotherapies, and other therapeutic proteins.

Funded to date primarily by venture capital money, the 91-employee company reported $6.1 million in cash and cash equivalents through June 30 along with a net loss of $19.9 million for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31. Genitope also reported about 1.9 million common shares outstanding through June 30, with all preferred shares to be converted into about 10.6 million common shares following the offering.

Its venture capital shareholders include Rainbow Ventures in Dallas, which controls about 11 percent of the outstanding stock; London-based Thompson Clive & Partners Ltd., which has a 9 percent stake; and the Walker Smith Capital Master Fund in Dallas, which owns 7 percent. Large individual shareholders include Rainbow partner Stanford Finney with 13 percent; Genitope Chairman, CEO and founder Dan Denney with 10 percent; and Gregory Ennis with 5 percent. Both Finney and Ennis, formerly with Thompson Clive, also serve as company directors.

Beyond funding its drug development work, the company expects to use funds from the offering for general corporate purposes, such as working capital and to repay outstanding debt. San Francisco-based WR Hambrecht + Co. and New York-based Punk, Ziegel & Co. LP are managing the underwriting syndicate that is expected to offer the shares to the public.

La Jolla Grosses $22.4M In Advance Of Riquent NDA

La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. raised about $22.4 million through an underwritten public offering of 8.15 million common shares at $2.75 apiece.

On Thursday, the San Diego-based company's stock (NASDAQ:LJPC) dropped 28 cents to close at $2.81. It reported about 42.6 million shares outstanding for the three-month period ended June 30, in which it also incurred an $11.4 million net loss.

La Jolla ended the quarter with $26 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, which it said would sustain operations into the second quarter of next year.

The new funding extends that window. La Jolla offered all the shares.

La Jolla is developing therapeutics for autoimmune diseases such as lupus and antibody-mediated thrombosis. At the end of June, it said it might pursue an FDA approval path for its lupus candidate Riquent despite two Phase III trials that missed their primary endpoints. The FDA would make any determination of approvability and the conditions of the approval after it has reviewed La Jolla's new drug application, which it expects to submit around the end of the year.

The company plans to file based on other positive trends seen in the studies - the findings revealed statistically significant correlations between reductions in antibodies to double-stranded DNA and a reduced risk of renal flare in lupus patients. Also, data showed that Riquent lowers levels of antibodies to dsDNA in a statistically significant manner. (See BioWorld Today, May 6, 2003.)

In February, news of a failed Phase III trial devalued La Jolla's stock by 72.5 percent, leaving it just above the $2 range.

Pacific Growth Equities LLC, of San Francisco, underwrote the offering.

EPIX Raises $64.5M In Public Offering

EPIX Medical Inc. raised $64.5 million after pricing a previously reported public offering of 4.3 million common shares at $15 apiece.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of agents for magnetic resonance imaging said it is offering all the shares through a shelf registration statement declared effective in January. EPIX also granted the underwriters a 30-day overallotment option to purchase up to an additional 645,000 common shares. On Thursday, its stock (NASDAQ:EPIX) lost $1.60 to close at $15.

The company reported a $3.6 million net loss for the quarter ended June 30, through which it had $25.7 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. EPIX had about 17.1 million shares out at the time.

By the end of the year, the company expects to file a new drug application for its lead product, a vascular imaging agent called MS-325 (gadofosveset) that hit its endpoint in two of three Phase III trials to date. The product has been developed since June 2000 in a 50-50 partnership with Berlin-based Schering AG. (See BioWorld Today, May 28, 2003.)

The offering's co-lead managers include New York-based SG Cowen Securities Corp. and San Francisco-based Wells Fargo Securities LLC, with SG Cowen its bookrunning lead manager. New York-based Needham & Co. Inc. and WR Hambrecht + Co. are acting as co-managers.