SiliconBeat

Aryx Therapeutics, the Fremont biopharamaceutical whose shares were slammed last July when Procter & Gamble pulled out of a partnership in developing Aryx’s drug to treat chronic constipation and abdominal pain, said today that it had raised $21.6 million through a private placement of about 9.6 million shares, along with the sale of warrants good on a potential 2.9 million additional shares.

The purchase price for the new shares was pegged at $2.20, the closing price for the stock the day before the announcement. Among the investors were existing stockholders, including entities affiliated with MPM Capital and OrbiMed Advisors, which already owned about 20 percent and 12 percent, respectively, of Aryx shares before the private placement. The warrants, which sold for 12.5 cents each, give the owners the right to buy shares of Aryx over the next five years for $2.64.

Aryx also released earnings for its third quarter, which were bolstered by  the last nonrefundable “upfront license fee” paid to it by P&G as a result of its termination of its collaboration agreement. Aryx said it had $33.8 million in cash and short-term investments as of Sept. 30, before today’s infusion, which will net the company $20.7 after agent fees are paid. Aryx says it now has “sufficient funds to finance operations through the first quarter of 2010 even in the absence of the completion of any corporate alliances for its programs.”

Shares of Aryx, which touched a 52-week low of $2.05 during trading on Tuesday, shot up about 30 percent in mid-day trading today. Prior to today they had lost nearly two-thirds of their value so far this year.