• Arqule Inc., of Medford, Mass., said it is collaborating with Monsanto Co., of St. Louis, to develop agrochemicals. Arqule will receive $12 million to provide Monsanto with mapping array compound sets and will synthesize directed array compound sets for use in the development of crop protection products.

• ImmuLogic Pharmaceutical Corp., of Waltham, Mass., has filed an investigational new drug application for a multiple sclerosis drug. The company said it plans to begin Phase I trials in the second quarter of 1997. ImmuLogic’s drug is aimed at turning off the T cells which trigger the inflammatory response that destroys the myelin sheath surrounding nerves.

• Incyte Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., has signed another customer for its LifeSeq DNA sequence and gene expression data base. Genentech Inc., of South San Francisco, joins a group of 11 companies that have acquired rights to use the data base. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

• Interferon Sciences Inc., of New Brunswick, N.J., completed a private placement raising $9.1 million. The 5.6 million shares were placed through Sunrise Securities Corp. The new funds will be used to further advance work on Interferon’s Alferon N, a treatment for HIV and hepatitis C.

• Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif., has received a second milestone payment from Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, of Ingelheim, Germany, as part of a collaboration to develop drugs to treat inflammatory diseases. Isis received $7.9 million as part of a line of credit of up to $40 million. In December, the company received $10 million following the completion of a Phase IIa trial of ISIS 2302 for Crohn’s disease.

• Monsanto Co.. of St. Louis, said it has agreed to acquire Holden’s Foundation Seeds Inc., Corn States Hybrid Service Inc. and Corn States International S.a.r.l. for up to $1.02 billion. Monsanto, which said in December that it plans to spin off its chemical business, has invested nearly $2 billion in the last two years in agribiotech, including Calgene Inc., of Davis, Calif., and DeKalb Genetics Corp., of DeKalb, Ill.

• SIBIA Neurosciences Inc. and Aurora Biosciences Corp., both of La Jolla, Calif., said they have entered into a cross-licensing agreement for certain assay technologies. Terms indicate that SIBIA will license to Aurora non-exclusive rights to practice its transcription-based assay technology. In return, SIBIA will receive non-exclusive rights to several assay technologies, including novel reporter molecules, from Aurora. Financial details were not disclosed.

• Sugen Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., has filed an investigational new drug application for SU5271, a treatment for psoriasis. The compound is a synthetic small molecule signal transduction inhibitor that blocks keratinocyte growth. A Phase I trial is planned for this year at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.