Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., which saw its stock drop 33percent on June 13, has raised $6.8 million through theprivate sale of more than 1 million shares of common stockto three institutional investors and six Amylin boardmembers, including Chairman and CEO Howard Greene.Marjorie Sennett, Amylin's vice president and chieffinancial officer, told BioWorld, "We certainly feel this is astrong show of confidence in our technology and theprospects for commercialization of new medicines fordiabetes therapy. We were very pleased to complete thistransaction quickly and quietly."Amylin's stock (NASDAQ:AMLN) tumbled $3.75 a shareJune 13 to close at $7.50 following Phase II trial studies oftripro-amylin, which yielded mixed results for the treatmentof juvenile-onset diabetes.The stock Thursday rose 75 cents, to close at $6.75 a share .Greene led the investors with a $1 million purchase ofnearly 154,000 shares. He and five other Amylin boardmembers bought more than half the shares for a total of$3.6 million.Three institutional investors _ Sutter Hill Ventures, of SanDiego, Juliet Challenger Inc., of Wilmington, Del. (anaffiliate of The Hillman Co., of Pittsburgh) and SequoiaCapital, of Menlo Park, Calif. _ paid $3.2 million for thebalance of the private placement.The total number of shares issued was 1,044,858 and thecost was based on the stock's price at the close of tradingJuly 29, which was $6.50 a share.Sennett said the company now has 20.8 million sharesoutstanding. As of June 30, Amylin reported it had $48.4million in cash and a burn rate of $8.3 million for thesecond quarter.Timothy Wilson, an analyst with Hambrecht & Quist Inc.,of New York, said Wall Street investors "got it wrong"June 13 when Amylin's stock dropped after announcementof the Phase II trial results."There was good news and bad news, but the good newswas much better and the stock should have gone up,"Wilson told BioWorld.He said the fact that Amylin's insiders are investing moremoney in the company now is a good indication theybelieve in what they're doing.Sennett said Amylin also considered the Phase II dataencouraging.The results showed the drug was well tolerated, improvedglucose control after meals and produced peak blood levelsof tripro-amylin consistent with those found in normalpeople. However, the studies also showed the drug did notmeasurably alter hypoglycemia induced by experimentalinsulin overdose.Patients with juvenile-onset diabetes have deficiencies ofinsulin and amylin, which result in dangerous shifts inblood glucose levels. Tripro-amylin is used in associationwith insulin to control glucose metabolism.Sennett said the proceeds from the stock sale will be usedto fund ongoing clinical trials, particularly the series ofPhase II trials of tripro-amylin, which will be completed bymid-1995. The company expects to begin Phase III trials inthe second half of the year. n

-- Charles Craig Staff Writer

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