¿ Cerep S.A., of Paris, cut its net loss by 67 percent to FFr4.2 million (US$563,000) in the first half of this year from FFr12.9 million in the corresponding period of 1999. Revenues were up 76.6 percent up at FFr52.9 million, while operating costs were no more than 28 percent higher at FFr64 million even though research and development spending doubled to FFr32.1 million. Pointing out that the company had recruited 50 people between January and June this year, CEO Thierry Jean stressed that the intensification of its research effort had been accompanied by tighter cost control, entailing in particular a reorganization of its sales and marketing department to make it more efficient. As of June 30, the company had cash and cash equivalents of FFr49.9 million, up from FFr47 million a year earlier.

¿ Morphosys AG, of Martinsried, Germany, said it entered a pact with ImmunoGen Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., under which it would apply its HuCAL-Fab antibody-generation technology to the discovery and optimization of fully human antibodies against an unspecified ImmunoGen cell surface target that is associated with several forms of cancer. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Morphosys will receive a technology access payment, milestone payments and royalties on marketed products. The deal is the German company's sixth since the beginning of the year.