Tripos reviews its options

Tripos has retained the advisory firm Seven Hills Partners to help it explore various strategic options, including mergers and acquisitions, becoming a private company, and separating its businesses in drug discovery informatics and chemistry research. Tripos' announcement comes three weeks after the company disclosed that it will cut staff in its chemistry research business now that a four-year program to make druglike molecules for Pfizer has ended. Separately, Tripos says that Wyeth will pay $5 million to license Tripos' informatics technology for use in drug discovery.