Interneuron Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that it has completed aprivate placement of about 1.71 million shares at $9 per share,grossing $15.36 million. Vector Securities International Inc. arrangedthe transaction.With the placement, the Lexington, Mass., company has about 28.7million shares outstanding. It has about $28 million cash on hand andexpects to burn about $12.7 million this year, the same as last year,Bill Boni, the company's executive director of corporatecommunications, told BioWorld.Nearly all of the new shares were issued to institutional investors, Bonisaid. In March 1993, Interneuron sold 2.3 million shares of commonstock at $6.50 per share in a follow-on offering, netting about $13.5million in its only offering since going public in 1990.The company plans to use the proceeds to help fund research anddevelopment. Specifically, the money will be used for development ofciticholine for stroke and head trauma, dihydrexidine for Parkinson'sdisease, IP 456 (which was licensed from Rhone-Poulenc Rorer inFebruary) for anxiety, and IP 100-9 for insomnia.Interneuron's stock (NASDAQ:IPIC) closed at $9.13 a share onFriday. - Jim Shrine

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