Sepracor Inc. got some negotiating leverage with a $5 millionprivate placement of convertible preferred stock and warrants withan unnamed, individual investor, the Marlborough, Mass., companysaid Tuesday.The 793,650 shares are convertible into common stock at $6.30 pershare, a premium to Sepracor's Monday closing price of $5, andwarrants for 993,650 shares can be exercised for prices between$6.30 and $12 per share. The stock can be sold no sooner that Sept.30, 1995. Biotechnology Value Fund L.P. of San Francisco assistedin the placement.The placement gives Sepracor about $13 million in cash, enough tolast more than a year, said David Southwell, the company's chieffinancial officer. It had about 18.6 million shares outstanding beforethe placement.Southwell told BioWorld his company is negotiating with othersinterested in Sepracor's technology and development efforts."They came to us out of the blue," Southwell said of the investor."This strengthens our hand considerably. We [now] have thefinancial capacity to develop these drugs ourselves. We can wait itout until we have more data, and then the price will go upsignificantly."Sepracor uses chiral chemistry to develop single-isomer forms ofexisting pharmaceuticals, and supplies companies with bulkquantities of chiral synthons. Two companies spun off fromSepracor _ BioSepra Inc. and HemaSure Inc. _ completed initialpublic offerings this year. Together the three companies have about$30 million in cash, Southwell said.Sepracor's stock (NASDAQ:SEPR) closed at $5.25 Tuesday, up 25cents per share. _ Jim Shrine

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