By Tess Stynes
Navidea Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (NAVB) said its sale of 1.5
million shares to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s (JPM) asset
management unit and another institutional investor priced at slight
discount to Tuesday's close.
Shares rose 8 cents to $3.19 in recent trading. The stock is up
9.9% this year through Tuesday's close.
The shares priced at $3.10 each. Navidea is raising funds to
support its operations as it awaits regulatory approval of its
first commercial radiopharmaceutical agent, Lymphoseek. Like many
drug developers, Navidea is unprofitable.
"Through our efforts to build relationships with potential
institutional investors and catalyze interest in Navidea, we were
presented with this targeted opportunity to expand our
institutional base."
The drug developer expects the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
to decide on its new drug application for its Lymphoseek
cancer-detection agent by the end of April. The company also is
seeking approval from European regulators.
Lymphoseek is a radioactive-tracing agent developed to be used
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.
Write to Tess Stynes at Tess.Stynes@dowjones.com
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