LA JOLLA, Calif., May 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
(Nasdaq-NNM: AGPH) today announced the closing of its acquisition of Alanex
Corporation.  The merger agreement between Agouron and Alanex was announced on
April 29, and was approved by the shareholders of Alanex on May 20.  Under the
terms of the agreement, Alanex will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of
Agouron.
    Under the terms of the completed transaction, each issued and outstanding
share of Alanex Common Stock will be exchanged for .188 shares of Agouron
Common Stock.  The transaction is intended to qualify as a purchase for
accounting purposes and as a tax free reorganization for Federal income tax
purposes.
    With this transaction Agouron has approximately 14,510,000 Common Shares
outstanding, and approximately 650 employees in North America and Europe,
including a direct sales and marketing force of over 70 field representatives.
    Alanex Corporation is engaged in the discovery of drug leads through the
high-speed screening of diverse chemical libraries designed by computational
methods and generated by combinatorial chemistry.  Alanex is presently
conducting research projects aimed at discovery of drugs for such therapeutic
indications as pain, diabetes, obesity, anxiety, and certain malignant tumors.
    Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an integrated pharmaceutical firm and a
leader in the design of small-molecule drugs based upon the three-dimensional
structures of proteins that play key roles in human disease.  Agouron
currently markets its first commercial product, an HIV protease inhibitor, in
the United States, and is a company committed to the discovery, development,
manufacturing, and marketing of small-molecule drugs engineered to inactivate
proteins which play key roles in cancer, AIDS, and other serious diseases.

Link to this page: