ALKERMES $46 MIL. LIMITED PARTNERSHIP WILL FUND RMP RESEARCH

ALKERMES $46 MIL. LIMITED PARTNERSHIP WILL FUND RMP RESEARCH, Cambridge, Mass.-based Alkermes said April 11. The partnership, named Alkermes Clinical Partners, "was formed to fund the clinical development of receptor mediated permeabilizers (RMPs)," Alkermes said. The offering closed April 10. The offering was sold to a number of "high net worth individuals," Alkermes said. The terms of the partnership stipulate that Alkermes may make a tender offer to buy it out under certain conditions after the technology is licensed. "In connection with the offering, Alkermes issued warrants to purchase up to 2,948,600 shares of Alkermes common stock," the company said. The $46 mil. financing is the third and largest equity infusion for the neuroscience R&D start-up in the last nine months. Alkermes has raised over $100 mil. in public and private financing since last July. The company raised about $20 mil. with its initial public offering in July ("The Pink Sheet" May 27, 1991, T&G-13) and then raised another $40 mil. in October via a secondary offering. Alkermes was founded in 1987. Alkermes' RMPs are designed to help therapeutics reach the brain by temporarily increasing the permeability of the blood brain barrier. Alkermes Clinical Partners' lead compound, RMP-7, entered Phase I trials in healthy subjects this year. RMP-7 will enter Phase II trials as an adjunct to treatment for opportunitistic infections in AIDS patients by the end of the year, Alkermes said. The company expects trials with RMP-7 in brain cancer to begin in 1993.