¿ Atrix Laboratories Inc., of Fort Collins, Colo., said U.K. approval of Atridox, which had been expected at the end of March, was delayed due to variances in the application and now is expected in May. The product is an antibiotic therapy for periodontal disease.

¿ Axiom Biotechnologies Inc., of San Diego, entered into a long-term exclusive licensing deal with Albuquerque, N.M.-based Science & Technology Corp. (STS) for a fluidics technology called Plug-Flow Cytometry. It accelerates sampling rates and throughput capabilities of flow cytometry. STC commercializes technology discovered at the University of New Mexico.

¿ Biosource Technologies Inc., of Vacaville, Calif., reached two milestones ahead of schedule in its three-year agricultural genomics collaboration with The Dow Chemical Co., of Midland, Mich. The undisclosed milestones triggered undisclosed payments to Biosource.

¿ CoCensys Inc., of Irvine, Calif., received a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health, which will be used for discovering novel nociceptin/orphanin FQ receptor antagonists to treat acute and chronic pain. The grant amount was not disclosed.

¿ Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco, reached agreement with the government and will pay a fine and restitution of $50 million related to its promotion of human growth hormone in the late 1980s and early ¿90s. (See BioWorld Today, April 13, 1999, p. 1.)

¿ Human Genome Sciences Inc., of Rockville, Md., opened its $42 million, 80,000-square-foot manufacturing and process development plant in Rockville. The company said it is the only facility designed to manufacture drugs resulting from genomics discoveries.

¿ Interferon Sciences Inc., of New Brunswick, N.J., said it was delisted from NASDAQ for failing to meet maintenance requirements. Effective Wednesday the shares were eligible to trade on the OTC Bulletin Board.

¿ Medeva plc, of London, said it was advised by the FDA that more information is needed before acceptance of the biologics license application for Hepagene, a vaccine for hepatitis B. The FDA had questions about safety data and the manufacturing process. An update from the company is expected at the end of May.

¿ SangStat Medical Corp., of Menlo Park, Calif., launched SangCya Oral Solution in the U.K. for prevention of solid-organ transplants and other autoimmune indications. The product was approved there on Jan. 28.

¿ Sibia Neurosciences Inc., of La Jolla, Calif., licensed its transcription-based assay screening technology to SmithKline Beecham plc, of London. Sibia will receive annual maintenance payments and royalties on resulting products. The technology is a functional cell-based assay that provides an indirect measure of the activity of certain cell surface molecules.