SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--Axys Pharmaceuticals, a genomics-based drug discovery company with a strong bioinformatics platform, has formed a joint venture with PPD, a global provider of contract and consulting research and development services. The partnership will establish a new company, PPGx, to provide pharma-cogenomics products and services, including clinical genetic data warehouse and analysis tools, polymorphism identification and characterization, genotyping and phenotyping, DNA banking, and gene-based clinical diagnostics to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.