Schering-Plough Corp. has agreed to pay Alkermes Inc.up to $12 million to continue their 1992 collaboration ondeveloping the latter's ProLease controlled drug releasetechnology for use with Schering-Plough's alphainterferon product, Intron A.

Under terms of the deal, Alkermes, of Cambridge, Mass.,will be paid $7 million over the first year and couldreceive more than $5 million in additional milestonepayments from Schering-Plough, of Madison, N.J.

Alkermes stock (NASDAQ:ALKS) jumped 34 percentThursday, closing at $7.38, an increase of $1.88.Schering-Plough (NYSE:SGP) ended the day at $46.38,up 26 cents.

Richard Pops, Alkermes CEO, said the expandedagreement with Schering-Plough is the third deal in thelast nine months involving development of ProLease fordelivery of drugs.

In the two other collaborations, Genentech Inc., of SouthSan Francisco, is exploring use of ProLease with thecompany's growth hormone and Germany-basedBoehringer- Mannheim GmbH is interested in combiningone of its drugs with the controlled delivery technology.The name of the Boehringer-Mannheim product was notdisclosed.

Together the three alliances could be worth more than$40 million in development funding for Alkermes, Popssaid.

The ProLease sustained release delivery system usespolymers _ like those that make up erodable sutures _to encapsulate protein and peptide therapeutics.

Pops said the advantage in using ProLease is to reducethe frequency of injections with the drugs. PackagingGenentech's growth hormone with ProLease, forexample, may reduce daily administrations of the drug tomonthly injections.

Included in the $7 million that Schering-Plough will payAlkermes during the first year of their new agreement areanticipated royalties from a ProLease formulation ofIntron A.

Schering-Plough's Intron A, or alpha interferon 2b, issold in the U.S. for hairy cell leukemia, AIDS-relatedKaposi's sarcoma, genital warts and chronic hepatitis Band C.

Earlier this week the FDA's Oncologic Drugs AdvisoryCommittee recommended approval of an additionalindication for Intron A as an adjuvant to surgery fordisease-free malignant melanoma patients at high risk ofsystemic recurrence. n

-- Charles Craig

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.