Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. and PerSeptive Biosystems Inc. areforming a strategic alliance, dubbed PerIsis, to develop noveltools for manufacturing oligonucleotide therapeutics.

The collaboration will focus on PerSeptive's (NASDAQ:PBIO)proprietary chromatography to purify, analyze and synthesizethe molecules that can be designed to inhibit gene products.Isis' (NASDAQ:ISIP) oligonucleotide 2105, a treatment forhuman papillomavirus, is the first oligonucleotide to be testedin humans, and is currently in Phase II trials.

Under the agreement, PerSeptive will have the option tocommercialize novel purification, analysis and synthesisproducts developed by this venture. The companies haveagreed to a bilateral royalty arrangement on each company'ssales of certain products.

Isis of Carlsbad, Calif., will also team with PerSeptive ofCambridge, Mass., to develop novel purification protocols toreduce time for purification, improve purity, and increase yieldwhile lowering production costs.

PerSeptive's stock was up $1.63 a share on Monday, closing at$21; Isis' stock was off 13 cents a share, closing at $5.88.

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