¿ BioMicro Systems Inc., of Salt Lake City, completed an initial private placement of $3 million. Proceeds will be used to advance development of its microfluid analysis platform technology and for general corporate purposes.

¿ Celgene Corp., of Warren, N.J., said the FDA accepted for filing its new drug application for d-methylphenidate, a chirally pure version of Ritalin for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The review is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2001. The acceptance triggered a $5 million milestone payment from Novartis Pharma AG, of Basel, Switzerland. Their $100 million-plus collaboration included the granting of some Ritalin rights to Celgene. (See BioWorld Today, April 27, 2000.)

¿ Corixa Corp., of Seattle, and Coulter Pharmaceutical Inc., of San Francisco, completed their merger, which was announced in October and initially valued at $570 million. The merged company will operate under the Corixa name. It has 66 programs in clinical development, 22 preclinical programs and 16 partnerships. (See BioWorld Today, Oct. 17, 2000.)

¿ Genetronics Biomedical Ltd., of San Diego, filed a preliminary short-form prospectus with regulators in Ontario and British Columbia relating to a public offering of its shares. Most of the proceeds will be used to further develop its drug and gene delivery system, Electroporation Therapy, which involves applying controlled pulses of electric fields to target cells to open pores in their outer membranes.

¿ GlaxoSmithKline plc, of Brentford, UK, said the merger between SmithKline Beecham plc and Glaxo Wellcome plc was completed and shares in GSK began trading Wednesday on the London and New York stock exchanges. The company is headquartered in Brentford, with U.S operations divided between Philadelphia and Research Triangle Park, N.C.

¿ Gliatech Inc., of Cleveland, said it received a letter from the FDA questioning the company's methods of recording and presenting clinical trial data related to its U.S. trial of Adcon-L, a gel to inhibit postsurgical scarring. The FDA is suspending review of three premarket approval applications - two Adcon-L supplemental applications and the modular submission for Adcon-P - until the data integrity questions are resolved. The news, released Saturday, sent the company's stock (NASDAQ:GLIA) down 20 percent Tuesday, or $1.25, and another 12.5 cents Wednesday as the shares closed at $4.875. The stock had fallen 60 percent, to about $10, in late August when problems were first disclosed. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 30, 2000.)

¿ Inflazyme Pharmaceutical Ltd., of Vancouver, British Columbia, received final approval in the UK to begin clinical trials there of ILP576,092, an oral therapy for asthma. Studies are expected to begin early in 2001. The product is partnered with Aventis Pharma Inc., of Frankfurt, Germany.

¿ Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Francisco, said underwriters of its recent initial public offering exercised their option to purchase another 650,000 shares at $7 apiece, bringing total gross proceeds to $39.6 million. Underwriters were Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Lehman Brothers and Robertson Stephens. (See BioWorld Today, Nov. 30, 2000.)