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

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