By Tess Stynes
Navidea Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (NAVB) said its sale of 2.1
million shares to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s (JPM) asset
management unit and another institutional investor priced at the
same level as Tuesday's close.
The shares priced at $2.43 each. Navidea is raising funds to
support its continuing operations. Like many drug developers,
Navidea is unprofitable.
J.P. Morgan and the other investor participated in a similar
transaction earlier this year.
Navidea President and Chief Executive Mark Pykett said, "We are
pleased to be able to capitalize on this opportunity to strengthen
our institutional ownership base as we work toward the launch of
our first commercial radiopharmaceutical agent, Lymphoseek."
Lymphoseek is a radioactive-tracing agent being developed for
use in a cancer-testing procedure called intraoperative lymphatic
mapping. The surgical procedure identifies and biopsies lymph nodes
draining an area around a tumor to determine if cancer has spread
to the lymph nodes.
Navidea expects gross proceeds of $5.1 million from the latest
stock sale.
Shares were inactive in recent premarket trading. Through
Tuesday's close, the stock is down 14% this year.
Write to Tess Stynes at Tess.Stynes@dowjones.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires