Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. completed a $7 million private placementof common stock with a single institutional investor in Europe.

Ariad, of Cambridge, Mass., sold 3 million shares at $2.35 apiece,which was a discount of between 5 and 10 percent to the trading priceof the stock when the deal was negotiated, said Charles Cabot III,Ariad's senior vice president and chief operating officer. Ariad'sstock (NASDAQ:ARIA) closed at $3 per share Thursday, down 6cents.

"The [placement] was a special opportunity," Cabot said. "It camewith a set of circumstances we considered acceptable _ primarily aone-year lockup, a single investor and a highly regarded investor."

The investor, which acquired a stake of about 16 percent in Ariad,asked not to be identified.

Ariad reported cash and equivalents of $24 million on Dec. 31. Thecompany's burn rate is about $1 million per month, Cabot said,meaning the company now should have about $27 million cash onhand. Ariad has about 18.9 million shares outstanding.

Cabot said the $7 million is important to the company as it negotiatesstrategic alliances. Ariad is developing small molecules that targetintracellular signal transduction pathways. It has programs in allergy,asthma, osteoporosis, immune-related disorders and cancer. All itsprograms are in the late research or early preclinical testing.

The stock sale was the first since Ariad went public in May 1994,when it grossed $15 million from the sale of units at $8 apiece. Eachunit consisted of one share of common stock and a warrant topurchase one share at 105 percent of the initial public offering price._ Jim Shrine

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