¿ Abbott Laboratories, of Abbott Park, Ill., completed the acquisition of BASF's pharmaceutical business, including the global operations of Knoll AG, of Ludwigshafen, Germany, for $6.9 billion in cash. The commercial and manufacturing operations of BASF's pharmaceutical business in the United States will be integrated into Abbott's Pharmaceutical Products Division.

¿ Atrix Laboratories Inc., of Fort Collins, Colo., completed a series of private transactions in which approximately $26 million of its 7 percent convertible subordinated notes due 2004 were exchanged into 1.46 million shares of common stock. Through this, its outstanding debt has been reduced by about $40 million, and shareholders' equity will be increased by the same amount.

¿ Aviva Biosciences Corp., of San Diego, entered a collaborative research project with the University of California, San Diego, Institute of Molecular Medicine in biochip-based isolation and study of cardiac conduction system cells. Cardiac conduction system cells act as the electrical pacemaker and wiring that maintain the activation of heart muscle contraction. Terms were not disclosed.

¿ Axonyx Inc., of New York, said Nasdaq has given conditional approval to its application for listing on the that market, contingent upon the closing bid price for Axonyx stock to be at or above $5 per share at the end of the day last Friday. It has been trading on the small-cap market since April 3, 2000.

¿ BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., of Novato, Calif., and joint venture partner Genzyme General, of Cambridge, Mass., completed patient enrollment of a pivotal Phase III trial of Aldurazyme and expect to complete the treatment phase by the end of August. The recombinant human alpha-L-iduronidase is being tested as enzyme replacement therapy for patients with MPS-I. Also, BioMarin said it completed patient enrollment of a Phase I trial of rhASB, recombinant human arylsulfatase B, as an enzyme replacement therapy for patients with MPS-VI. MPS-I and MPS-VI are life-threatening genetic diseases that afflict children beginning at birth.

¿ EgeneOS Inc., of Boston, named Frank Lee president and CEO. Lee is the former chief technology officer at Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass. EgeneOS focuses on biomolecular engineering, and is engaged in developing engineered genomic operating systems to enable the design and construction of programmable biomolecular machines.

¿ Genome Canada, of Ottawa, Ontario, will receive a C$140 million (US$90.6 million) one-time grant from the government of Canada. Genome Canada is developing five genome technology centers - one each in British Columbia, the Prairies, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. This funding brings the total financial support from the government of Canada to C$300 million.

¿ Immunicon Corp., of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., said data concerning the relationship between disease progression in prostate cancer patients and circulating cancer cells in the blood of these patients appeared in the Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). The data will be presented at the AACR annual meeting in New Orleans on March 25. The main objectives of the study were to determine whether cells of epithelial origin circulating in the bloodstream can be quantified in hormone-refractory metastatic prostate cancer patients and that the number of such cells over time correlates with disease progression.

¿ Introgen Therapeutics Inc., of Austin, Texas, said INGN 241 (adenoviral-mda7) demonstrated antitumor activity against human melanoma cells in vitro. The preclinical study showed that INGN 241 caused growth arrest and induced apoptotic death in melanoma cells derived from both early and metastatic stages of disease. The data were presented at the Fifth World Conference on Melanoma, sponsored by the World Health Organization.

¿ Martek Biosciences Corp., of Columbia, Md., makers of microalgae-derived edible oils, nutritional supplements, food ingredients and fluorescent markers for diagnostics and protein detection, completed a $20 million financing. The placement included more than 1.28 million shares at $15.875 and warrants to purchase 319,811 shares. The warrants have a five-year terms and are exercisable immediately at $19.05 per share. JP Morgan H&Q, of New York, acted as placement agent for the transaction. Martek said it will use the proceeds from the offering for continued development and marketing of its products.

¿ NeoPharm Inc., of Lake Forest, Ill., reached agreement with the National Cancer Institute, of Bethesda, Md., to increase the scope and funding for its collaboration with NCI to develop the anticancer agent SS1(dsFv)-PE38 for treatment of mesothelin-expressing tumors such as head and neck, esophageal, cervical, ovarian and mesothelioma. NeoPharm is conducting Phase I trials for SS1(dsFv)-PE38 in patients with refractory mesothelin-modulated cancers.