MicroProbe Corp. is selling its diagnostics business,along with its name, to Becton Dickinson and Co.'sdiagnostics division for $8.5 million in cash. Inconjunction with Tuesday's announcement, MicroProbesaid it settled a lawsuit by agreeing that its Affirmproduct line infringes patents held by Gen-Probe Inc.

Meanwhile, Gen-Probe, of San Diego, and BectonDickinson, of Franklin Lakes, N.J., reached a licensingagreement whereby Becton can sell Affirm products. Theproducts are DNA probe-based diagnostics. One, theAffirm VPIII, has been sold since 1992 for diagnosis ofvaginitis.

MicroProbe, of Bothell, Wash., already received $3million toward the purchase price, and could get as muchas $10 million for the sale. It is proposing to change itsname to Epoch Pharmaceuticals Inc.

"We are not in the diagnostics business any longer," FredCraves, MicroProbe's chairman and CEO, said Tuesday."We're focusing exclusively on therapeutics. This is areal opportunity for the company because it eliminates alot of the uncertainty in the financial community,particularly, and the pharmaceutical community . . .because of the overhang of the patent litigation. This isthe best solution in terms of how to relaunch the companyand return shareholder value."

In the therapeutic area, MicroProbe is developingoligonucleotide-based gene therapies. It has two issuedand 10 filed patents in the area of gene-modifyingoligonucleotide technologies. The approach involvescombining into one agent the new class ofoligonucleotides, which target genes, and small-moleculedrugs. n

-- Jim Shrine

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