Agouron to Acquire Closely Held Alanex

Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc. has agreed to buy closely held Alanex Corp. for about $62 million in stock. Agouron said it will issue 1 million shares to pay for the drug-discovery company. The value of the transaction is based on Monday’s closing share price of $62. San Diego-based Alanex uses its library of molecules to research treatments for pain, diabetes, obesity, anxiety and certain kinds of tumors. Agouron, based in La Jolla, develops drugs for treating cancer, AIDS and other diseases. The company’s AIDS treatment, Viracept, last month won U.S. regulatory approval. The drug is the latest entry in the promising class of AIDS drugs called protease inhibitors. They work by inhibiting the HIV that causes AIDS. Shares of Agouron lost 50 cents to close at $61.50 on Nasdaq.