Chiron Corp. has purchased Centocor Corp.'s manufacturingplant in Berkeley, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis, the companiesannounced on Thursday.

Although terms of the transaction were not disclosed, RichardKoenig, Centocor's director of corporate communications, saidthe deal will raise Centocor some cash for a facility it hasn'treally needed. Centocor (NASDAQ:CNTO) of Malvern, Pa.,originally obtained the plant from Invitron Corp., a subsidiaryof Monsanto.

Chiron (NASDAQ:CHIR) of Emeryville, Calif., is beginning torenovate the plant for production of vaccines and has offeredto continue to employ the 20 former Centocor employees there.

Centocor said the sale will not affect operations at its mainpharmaceutical plant in Leiden, the Netherlands.

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