• Affymetrix Inc., of San Francisco, watched its shares drop 19 percent Friday, following the release of the company's second-quarter results. Net income rose to $7.8 million, or 12 cents a share, compared with $7 million, or 11 cents a share, in the second quarter of 2004. Analysts were expecting a profit of 17 cents per share on $88.1 million in revenue, instead of the $84.1 million that the company recorded in the second quarter. Shares (NASDAQ:AFFX) fell $11.02 to close at $45.97.

• AT-GC BioPharm Inc., of Clarksburg, Md., said TissueGene Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., will use its Quality By Design manufacturing solution to produce plasmid vectors. TissueGene focuses on developing products for the regeneration of damaged cartilage and bones and nerves. Financial terms were not disclosed.

• Celera Diagnostics Inc., of Alameda, Calif., said its partner, Abbott Park, Ill.-based Abbott Laboratories received CE Mark certification for a real-time PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test for monitoring hepatitis C viral load in patients, allowing the test to be marketed in the European Union. The Abbott RealTime HCV assay has been developed for use on the Abbott m2000 system, an automated instrument using real-time PCR technology provided by Foster City, Calif.-based Applied Biosystems Group.

• Durect Corp., of Cupertino, Calif., entered a privately negotiated agreement with a holder of its 6.25 percent convertible subordinated notes, due June 2008, to exchange up to $5 million in principal amount for 317.5 shares of common stock per $1,000 principal amount, plus additional shares to compensate the note holder for early exchange. The company said this action is intended to reduce debt and decrease its corporate cash burn.

• Galileo Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., said its scientists have demonstrated a direct relationship between inflammation and glucose levels. Through its metabolic disease program, the company confirmed in preclinical models that inhibiting lipoxygenases, known mediators of inflammatory response, significantly lowers blood glucose levels in animal models of diabetes. Data were presented at the Therapeutic Approaches to Obesity and Related Disorders conference in Washington.

• Kinexus Bioinformatics Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, released six new Kinetworks Phosphoprotein Screening Services, KPSS 7.0 through 12.0, for simultaneously tracking the phosphorylation status of more than 200 regulatory sites in cell signaling proteins. Screens 7.0, 8.0 and 9.0 were developed in collaboration with Biosource International Inc., of Camarillo, Calif.

• Myogen Inc., of Denver, completed enrollment of 187 patients in ARIES-2, one of the two pivotal Phase III trials of ambrisentan in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. The company anticipates reporting top-line results of the trial by the end of the year. Enrollment in the ARIES-1 trial is expected to conclude during the fourth quarter, with results to be reported six months later. Ambrisentan is in development as an oral therapy for patients with PAH, and has received orphan drug designation in both the U.S. and European Union.

• Xenomics Inc., of New York, said new research demonstrates that there is a higher level of sensitivity in its Transrenal-DNA (Tr-DNA) technology platform for the detection of HIV in AIDS patients. This research, based on an expanded pool of patients, showed the Tr-DNA method to have a 97.6 percent accuracy in detecting HIV in patients at different stages of infection, including patients with residual disease in which viral loads often are not detected. The company is expected to present these findings this week at the annual meeting of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry in Orlando, Fla.