¿ Affymetrix Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., dropped 15 percent, or $5.39 Monday on its stock (NASDAQ:AFFX) after releasing earnings. Affymetrix reported a net loss excluding charges for merger-related costs and amortization of acquired intangible assets of 11 cents per diluted share for the first quarter, total revenue of $54.9 million and product sales of $50.5 million. The company¿s loss was wider than analysts expected by about 4 cents per share.

¿ AGY Therapeutics Inc., of South San Francisco, presented data at the IBC conference on target validation in San Diego. AGY said the data presented included collaborative studies between AGY and Tadeusz Wieloch of the Wallenburg Neuroscience Center in Sweden. AGY¿s functional genomics platform identifies, characterizes and validates critical pathways.

¿ AmCell Corp., of Burlingame, Calif., won summary judgment Monday in the lawsuit filed by Nexell Therapeutics Inc. in March 2000. The suit claimed clinical investigations and other activities conducted by AmCell infringed on certain patents licensed to Nexell Therapeutics. A Delaware U.S. District Court judge ruled the course of activities leading to approval for the CliniMACS system was a matter for AmCell and the FDA to decide upon. Such activities are exempt from claims of infringement, the judge ruled, rejecting Nexell¿s argument.

¿ Atlas Venture, of Boston, established a $950 million venture capital fund with institutional investors for early-stage technology companies. The fund, Atlas Venture VI, will focus on Atlas¿ traditional areas: communications, information technologies and life sciences.

¿ Biovector Therapeutics SA, of Toulouse, France, announced that its anti-HIV vaccine candidate, VAC12, entered a Phase I clinical trial to evaluate safety and cellular immune response. The 18-month trial will be conducted at Cochin Hospital in Paris on 15 healthy volunteers.

¿ Celgene Corp., of Warren, N.J., presented data at the ¿New Targets in Arthritis: Signal Transduction and Transcriptional Regulation¿ meeting of the Institut Pasteur, in Paris. Researchers said Celgene¿s Selective Cytokine Inhibitory Drugs and novel c-Jun N-terminal Kinase inhibitor show significant anti-inflammatory properties that may be beneficial in treating immune and inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis.

¿ GeneProt Inc., of Evanston, Ill., announced the opening of what it says is the world¿s first large-scale proteomic discovery center, in Geneva, Switzerland. The facility is designed to identify and select for clinical study large numbers of previously unidentified proteins. GeneProt said the facility uses 51 of the most advanced mass spectrometers.

¿ Hemosol Inc., of Toronto, announced that Health Canada¿s Biologics and Genetic Therapies Directorate completed its first review of the company¿s new drug submission to market its human hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier, Hemolink, in Canada. Hemosol anticipates approval to market Hemolink in Canada in late 2001.

¿ MetaPhore Pharmaceuticals Inc., of St. Louis, said computer-aided design techniques have produced a 100-fold increase in the catalytic activity of one of its manganese-based compounds that¿s shown a protective anti-inflammatory effect in animal models. The compound is part of a family of compounds under development by MetaPhore that mimics the action of the free radical-fighting natural enzyme superoxide dismutase.

¿ Miicro Inc., of Chicago, and Duramed Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cincinnati, entered an agreement to conduct a neuroimaging study to assess the central nervous system effects of Duramed¿s Cenestin (synthetic conjugated estrogens, A) combined with Marietta, Ga.-based Solvay Pharmaceutical Inc.¿s Prometrium, a micronized formulation of progesterone. Cenestin is a plant-derived estrogen replacement product.

¿ Vasogen Inc., of Toronto, announced plans for a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial in the most prevalent form of peripheral vascular disease, peripheral arterial disease. The trial is anticipated to enroll up to 500 patients with moderate to severe PAD at centers throughout the U.S.

¿ Myriad Genetics Inc., of Salt Lake City, presented Phase IIa clinical trial data on its lead cancer compound, MPC-7869, at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Myriad reported four-month findings from 23 late-stage prostate cancer patients who went on to receive up to 32 weeks of dosing. Extended daily dosing with MPC-7869 in the open-label trial was well tolerated. Myriad said it intends to take the drug through human clinical trials itself, retaining all rights to the drug.

¿ PhotoCure ASA, of Oslo, Norway, said it submitted a marketing authorization application to the New Zealand authorities for Metvix PDT (photodynamic therapy) for the treatment of high-risk basal cell carcinoma and actinic keratosis. PhotoCure already has marketing applications filed for Metvix in Sweden, the European Union and Australia. The company expects marketing authorization in Sweden in mid-2001.

¿ Protherics plc, of Cheshire, UK, announced that progress to the next stage of research in its anti-thrombotic research collaboration with Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, triggered a milestone payment of $1 million. The collaboration calls for the companies to discover, develop and commercialize compounds for the treatment of thrombotic diseases and to identify candidates for clinical testing.

¿ Serono SA, of Geneva, entered a services agreement with Evotec OAI, of Hamburg, Germany. The agreement calls for the development of a novel biological assay for a Serono cellular target using Evotec¿s proprietary VliP technology. After the development of the assay, Evotec will perform screening and compound profiling using its EVOscreen technology to identify chemical compounds that mimic a Serono protein. Financial terms were undisclosed.