RA Capital Management Reported a Passive Stake in $TRMS

Peter Kolchinsky’s RA Capital Management, LLC reported a 6.96% passive stake in Trimeris, Inc. (TRMS) on October 3rd. Since the firm did not have any shares in TRMS based on its 13F in the second quarter, this was a brand new position. According to RA Capital’s 13G filing, the firm now owns 1.56 million shares of TRMS. The stock was wavering near $2.5 for several months before it tumbled to a 2-year low in September. RA Capital Management might have already begun the transaction when the stock dropped below $2 in middle September. Soon TRMS recovered and rallied 6 days to its previous price level. Now the stock is trading at $2.64.

In the second quarter, TRMS was owned by four hedge funds, and three of them had large positions in the stock. Arthur B Cohen and Joseph Healey’s Healthcor Management LP had the most, with 4.41 million shares, or 19% stake in the stock. Julian Baker and Felix Baker’s Baker Bros. Advisors had 3.48 million shares at that time, corresponding to a 15.52% stake. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies had 1.25 million shares, or 5.58% stake.

Peter Kolchinsky is the co-founder and general partner of RA Capital Management, LLC. He graduated from Harvard with a Ph.D. in virology and has been investing in healthcare sector since 2002. He successfully turned his initial $4 million investment into $13 million by 2003.

Trimeris, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company which engages in the development of a class of antiviral drug treatments. According to Yahoo! Finance, the company offers Fuzeon which is mainly used for treatment of HIV virus. The company was found in 1993 in North Carolina.