Arris & Sequana Merge In $166 Million Deal

US biotechnology companies Arris Pharmaceutical Corp and SequanaTherapeutics are merging to form Axys, which Arris president John Walker claims will be "the first biotechnology company that has capabilities extending from gene to drug." Under the terms of the agreement, Arris will issue 1.35 shares of Arris common stock for each Sequana share, giving the deal a value of approximately $166 million (see Monitor, page 27).

In a particularly busy day for Sequana, the group announced that it had also signed a $103 million drug discovery and technology alliance with the Parke-Davis division of Warner Lambert to develop novel therapeutic products for schizophrenia and manic depression.

P-D & Tripos In Software Deal Meantime, Parke-Davis is entering into a multi-year, international license agreement with Tripos for expanded access to the latter's discovery software to be used by Parke-Davis research sites worldwide. Christine Humblet, senior director of biomolecular structure and drug design at Parke-Davis, said that the deal will accelerate new product discovery.