¿ Affymetrix Inc.

, of South San Francisco, granted Eos Biotechnology Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., a license to certain patents that will let Eos make and use its own non-light-directed, pre-synthesized nucleic acid arrays for gene expression monitoring. Under the non-exclusive, three-year deal, Eos will pay an undisclosed license fee and annual royalties based on the number of array-based experiments it performs.

¿ Alza Corp., of Palo Alto, Calif., reported that the registration statement relating to the Alza shares to be issued to Sequus Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Menlo Park, Calif., under their Oct. 4, 1998, merger agreement was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The proxy statements/prospectus will be mailed to Sequus stockholders by Feb. 12, with the stockholders meeting set for March 16. If approved, Sequus stockholders will receive 0.4 shares of Alza common stock for each share of Sequus common stock held as of Jan. 19, 1999.

¿ Axys Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, initiated Phase Ib studies of APC-2059 in two indications: a topical cream formulation for psoriasis; and an injectable formulation for inflammatory bowel disease. The compound is designed to inhibit tryptase, an enzyme found in mast cells.

¿ Biosource Technologies Inc., of Vacaville, Calif., and Owensboro Grain Co., of Owensboro, Ky., are collaborating to develop technology for the recovery and purification of biopharmaceuticals and other biomolecules from genetically modified seed crops such as soy, corn and canola. Terms were not disclosed.

¿ Cellex Biosciences Inc., of Minneapolis, reported that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Minnesota, approved a debtor-in-possession financing agreement between the company and its new investor, Biovest LLC. Cellex Biosciences received an initial advance of $500,000 from Biovest and an additional advance of $185,000. In additional to providing debtor-in-possession financing, Biovest has agreed to finance the reorganization of Cellex.

¿ Cerus Corp., of Concord, Calif., filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the proposed public offering of 2 million shares of common stock that will be sold by Cerus. The underwriters were granted an option to purchase an additional 300,000 shares to cover overallotments, if any. The net proceeds will be used to fund research and development, including clinical trials, as well as for working capital.

¿ CV Therapeutics Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., reported results of a preclinical study comparing CVT-510, its selective A1 adenosine receptor agonist, with diltiazem in the January 1999 issue of the British Journal of Pharmacology. The study showed that while both CVT-510 and diltiazem slowed AV nodal conduction, only CVT-510 maintained left ventricular contractility (pumping function of the heart) and arterial blood pressure. Slowing AV nodal conduction is an important step in slowing ventricular rate during atrial arrhythmias.

¿ Kinetek Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, was awarded a $350,000 grant from the National Research Council Canada's Industrial Research Assistance Program. Kinetek's functional proteomics program is called Kineomics, and integrates functional proteomics and bioinformatics to identify those protein kinases that show aberrant enzymatic activity in the disease state.

¿ ProScript Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., began a second Phase I trial of the proteasome inhibitor PS-341, its lead cancer therapy. The product targets a key protein degradation pathway in cells.

¿ Strata Biosciences Inc., of Alameda, Calif., entered into a two-year collaboration with Tularik Inc., of South San Francisco, to provide drug target validation. Strata will provide key services from its functional genomics technology platform for use in Tularik¿s drug discovery program. Strata will receive funding from Tularik and milestone payments.

¿ System Integration Drug Discovery Co. (SIDDCO), of Tucson, Ariz., and CellPath Inc., of Seattle, entered into a shared-risk drug-discovery collaboration. SIDDCO will use its combinatorial chemistry technologies to synthesize compounds for hit generation and lead optimization. CellPath will test the compounds in its high-throughput screens that use freshly isolated cancer cells.

¿ Xenometrix Inc., of Boulder, Colo., granted licenses for gene expression profiling to Incyte Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., and SmithKline Beecham plc, of London. The licenses are non-exclusive, and cover the collection of gene expression profiles utilizing all methods including high-density microarrays. Terms were not disclosed.