Inspire Files Registration Allowing Sale of $140 Million In Stock

RESEARCH TRIANGLE–Inspire Pharmaceuticals has filed a “shelf registration” with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SECC) that allows it to sell up $140 million in stock as needed.

Greg Mossinghoff, Inspire president, told the Raleigh News and Observer that the company does not plan immediate sale of any of the stock.

A shelf registration with the SEC permits the company to sell stock when the money is needed or conditions are favorable.

It is the second time the company used a shelf registration. It filed to sell $100 million in stock in January 2003 and sold $78 million in a secondary stock offering a few months later.

Inspire has several products in development. The most advanced is a treatment for dry eyes it hoped to get approved and to market by this year, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked for more tests following its last clinical trial.

Inspire’s ups and downs with the FDA have been reflected in ups and downs in its stock price, which hit an all time high of $21.16 in October last year and since fell more than 35 percent.

Inspire stock (Nasdaq:INSP)closed up 30 cents at $13.50 Monday.