Pharmaceutical company Cempra on Friday became the first Triangle company to complete an initial public offering of stock in 10 months, raising nearly $48 million.

That was considerably lower than the nearly $90 million the Chapel Hill company had said it hoped to raise in earlier regulator filings. Cempra sold 8.4 million shares at $6 per share, well below the $11 to $13 price range the company expected.

Underwriters of the offering also have the option an additional 1.2 million shares.
In its first day of trading on the NASDAQ, Cempra shares closed up 6 cents at $6.06. The company’s ticker symbol is CEMP.

Cempra, which has 15 employees, is developing treatments for drug-resistant skin infections and pneumonia. The company has two antibiotics in clinical trials.

Shares of Tranzyme closed unchanged after the Durham drug-development company's initial public offering of stock.

The company sold 13.5 million shares at $4 each on Friday, raising about $48 million after expenses. That was after reducing the size of the deal to get it done.

In early trading today, the shares rose 6 cents, but ended the day flat. The stock began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "TZYM."

SciQuest executives, including CEO Stephen Wiehe, center, rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq stock market in New York City's Times Square this morning.

The ceremony came as the Cary technology company and its investors raised millions more on Wall Street by selling 4.7 million additional shares.

SciQuest made its debut on the Nasdaq after an initial public offering of stock in September, the first IPO by a Triangle tech company in years.

This week's so-called secondary offering raised more money to expand its business, and increased the number of shares on the market. It also allowed the company's early investors to cash out some of their holdings.

SciQuest shares, which began trading last fall at $9.50, fell 22 cents to $14.30 today.

Read today's full report on the company's stock sale here.

SciQuest and several investors sold 4.7 million shares this morning, marking the Cary technology company's second trip to Wall Street in six months.

SciQuest went public in an initial public offering of stock in September. Today's so-called secondary offering allows it to raise more money to expand its business, and increase the number of shares on the market.

"Our goal was to put a mix of new and existing investors in the business, and we were able to add some good ones," said CEO Stephen Wiehe.

Wiehe spent the past two weeks meeting with more than 100 mutual fund managers and other investors in 12 cities, selling SciQuest's story.

On Friday, he will join other SciQuest executives and ring the opening bell at the Nasdaq stock market in Times Square.

Icagen shares can keep trading on the Nasdaq.

The Durham drug-development company held a reverse stock split last month to satisfy minimum listing requirements on the Nasdaq and avoid being delisted.

The move traded in eight existing shares for one new one, reducing the total number outstanding and raising the per-share price. That bumped Icagen's stock above $1 for 10 consecutive trading days, putting it back in compliance with the Nasdaq, the company announced today.

Icagen shares rose today after the Durham drug development company announced it has extended a partnership with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.

Pfizer will provide Icagen with Icagen another $5 million in funding through Dec. 2011. Icagen's researchers are developing experimental treatments for pain under the deal.

"Pfizer has brought tremendous resources to bear upon this program, and we are delighted to work with such an extraordinary group of scientists as we pursue this very exciting avenue of research," said Icagen CEO P. Kay Wagoner, in a prepared statement.

Shares of Icagen, which held a reverse stock split Tuesday night, began trading Wednesday under their new, higher price.

The Durham drug development company essentially exchanged eight existing shares for one new share, reducing the total number outstanding and boosting the price per share. The move was designed to help Icagen satisfy minimum listing requirements on the Nasdaq and avoid being delisted.

Despite the split, the shares traded for much of Wednesday below $1, the minimum price to maintain the stock's Nasdaq listing. But the stock rose 7 cents to close at $1.09.

"We're disappointed and we don't think we deserve the market cap we have currently," said chief financial officer Richard Katz, in a phone interview.

Icagen will make a new move this month to avoid having its shares delisted from the Nasdaq.

The Durham company developing new treatments for pain and epilepsy will hold a one-for-eight reverse stock split on Sept 21. The split will take effect at the start of trading on Sept. 22, the company announced Friday.

Investors will essentially get one new share for every eight they now own. Such a move will reduce the number of outstanding shares but increase the per-share price to help meet the Nasdaq's minimum listing requirements.

Icagen, a Durham drug-development company whose slumping shares risk being delisted from the Nasdaq, won a temporary reprieve from the stock market.

The company now has until Nov. 8 to get the closing price of its stock above $1 for 10 consecutive trading days, Icagen reported in a regulatory filing this morning.

Icagen's shares, which began trading publicly in 2005, have fallen sharply as investors worry about the company's financial health and whether it will be able to develop a successful drug. Icagen's researchers are testing compounds to treat pain, epilepsy and other diseases.

Its stock rose 2 cents this afternoon to 32 cents.

In June, shareholders approved Icagen's planned one-for-eight reverse stock split. Such a move would reduce the number of outstanding shares and increase the per-share price to help meet the Nasdaq's listing requirements.

Chief financial officer Richard Katz declined to comment beyond this morning's regulatory filing.

Talecris Biotherapeutics investors got a bit of good news today.

Shares of the Triangle's largest biotechnology company will be added to the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index next Monday. The index currently has 123 members.

Talecris will be one of nine new stocks that will be added (four companies will be dropped).

Inclusion on the index was a safe bet for Talecris, since the index includes most of the biotech companies that are listed on the Nasdaq. But being added to the index does have benefits: Stocks often rise when they're added as mutual funds and other investors buy the new securities for their portfolios.

Talecris shares rose 24 cents today to close at $17.97. The stock remains below the $19 per-share price where it began trading publicly last fall.

Talecris makes medicines from blood plasma at a Clayton factory that's being expanded. Investors have worried recently that the company's ability to raise prices for drugs will be hampered by the economy and health-reform legislation.

The company employs more than 4,700 people worldwide, including more than 2,200 in the Triangle.