¿ Argonaut Technologies Inc., of San Carlos, Calif., and MediChem Research Inc., of Lemont, Ill., entered a collaboration to develop methodology that will allow researchers to speed chemical reaction optimization. It will combine parallel synthesis methods with statistical Design of Experiments software using MediChem technology. Argonaut will incorporate the methodology with its Surveyor instrument and distribute the integrated platform worldwide. Launch date is targeted early next year.

¿ Beckman Coulter Inc., of Fullerton, Calif., said it introduced custom reagents that have the potential to speed the search for vaccines to cancer and other immune diseases by virtue of their ability to rapidly measure cellular immune response. The company also said it formed a dedicated business unit in San Diego to commercialize future custom and routine applications of the technology.

¿ Bioject Medical Technologies Inc., of Portland, Oregon, said a private offering of 1.3 million common shares at $7.75 per share yeilded about $10 million for the company. The equity financing was handled by Lone Pine Capital, of Greenwich, Conn. Bioject focuses on needle-free drug delivery systems.

¿ Biowire.com, of Mountain View, Calif. said it will make it's web-integrated genetic analysis software package Jellyfish available to scientists for free. The software includes usability features such as simultaneous submission and analysis from multiple genetic databases, DNA and protein sequence information, restriction enzyme analysis and DNA/protein alignment.

¿ Incyte Genomics Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., is providing an exclusive license to its PathoSeq microbial sequence database to Elitra Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, which will use it as a platform for its functional genomics programs. Elitra also will get the right to sell PathoSeq to third parties in collaboration with Incyte. Incyte will receive an undisclosed equity position as part of the deal. Financial terms were not released. Elitra has identified more than 800 gene drug targets in pathogenic organisms.

¿ Insmed Inc., of Richmond, Va., said its shareholders approved a 1-for-4 reverse stock split. As a result the company will have about 27 million shares outstanding. The stock will start trading on a post-split basis July 31.

¿ Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., and Aventis Pharma, of Frankfurt, Germany, completed their major strategic alliance, triggering an initial $150 million Millennium stock purchase by the German company. The alliance focuses on discovery and commercialization of new inflammation drug targets, and will include the transfer of key elements of Millennium's technology to Aventis. Further Millennium stock purchases and other payments could bring the deal's total value to $450 million. The deal was disclosed a month ago. (See BioWorld Today, June 26, 2000, p. 1.)

¿ Neurobiological Technologies Inc., of Richmond, Calif., said it has been re-listed on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market. The company has traded on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol NTII since 1998, and will keep that symbol when listed on Nasdaq.

¿ QLT Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Ciba Vision, the Atlanta-based eye care unit of Novartis AG, said the European Commission granted marketing authorization for Visudyne for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration. The photodynamic therapy-based treatment is expected to be available in the EU within a few weeks

¿ Sequenom Inc., of San Diego, said it has reached agreement with the GSF-National Research Center for Environmental and Health, of Germany, for licensing and purchase of Sequenom's MassARRAY system. MassARRAY technology will assist the GSF in large single nucleotide polymorphism validation projects.