¿ CIMA Labs Inc., of Eden Prairie, Minn., registered for a follow-on offering of 2.5 million shares. Underwriters, including lead manager Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown and co-managers SG Cowen and Fahnestock & Co. Inc., have been granted the option to purchase up to 375,000 shares to cover overallotments. Proceeds from the offering, estimated to total $146.25 million at Monday's opening price of $58.50, are earmarked by the company for expansion of its production capabilities and facilities and other uses. The company develops fast-dissolve and enhanced-absorption drug delivery systems.

¿ Exelixis Inc., of South San Francisco, said it delivered two assays to Bayer AG's crop protection business group, Genoptera LLC, of South San Francisco, as a part of the joint venture formed in 1998 and expanded most recently in January. The delivery triggers an undisclosed milestone payment for Exelixis. The assays, intended to identify novel classes of safe and effective insecticides, will be used by Bayer scientists to screen against Bayer compounds to identify leads for further development. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 12, 2000, p. 1.)

¿ First Genetic Trust Inc., of Chicago, a biotech start-up, said it was formed to protect the privacy and security of individuals' genetic information while supporting that information's application to the advancement of medical research. The high-security "genetic bank" plans to ensure individual control over access to genetic information. IBM has been selected to develop and deploy an information technology infrastructure for the company that provides data security and privacy protection.

¿ Maxim Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, said it completed enrollment in a global Phase III clinical trial of Maxamine in acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and an international Phase III trial of the drug in advanced metastatic melanoma. The 300-patient AML trial is designed to demonstrate prolonged remission time and relapse prevention. The metastatic melanoma trial is a 240-patient study evaluating co-administration of Maxamine and a low-dose interleukin-2 and interferon-alpha against the control, dacarbazine, with a primary endpoint of survival.

¿ Protogene Laboratories Inc., of Menlo Park, Calif., said it will market and manufacture custom oligonucleotide DNA microarrays for academic and commercial genomics research. The company said it plans to begin providing microarrays to premarket evaluation sites this month, and will launch its commercial operation in the first half of 2001.

¿ Sanofi-Synthelabo Inc., of New York, said it reacquired U.S. orthopedic marketing rights for Hyalgan, a natural hyaluronate injection for treatment of knee pain due to ostoearthritis, from OrthoLogic Corp., of Tempe, Ariz. Sanofi-Synthelabo currently markets the drug for the rheumatology market in the U.S. Terms were not disclosed.

¿ Transkaryotic Therapies Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said it broke ground on a 180,000-square-foot office and lab space facility in Cambridge leased from MIT that will serve as the company's headquarters. The historic building, site of the first two-way long-distance telephone call between Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson, will be renovated and equipped with state-of-the-art labs, executive offices and administrative facilities.