* Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., of Nutley, N.J., won an FDA advisory committee's unanimous recommendation that heart transplant be approved as a new indication for the antirejection transplant drug CellCept (mycophenolate mofetil). Administered in combination with cyclosporine and corticosteroids, the drug first won approval in 1995 for use in kidney transplant patients.

* Perkin-Elmer Corp., of Norwalk, Conn., and PerSeptive Biosystems Inc., of Framingham, Mass., expect to complete their $360 million merger Jan. 22. The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice agreed last week to end the waiting period for completion of the merger, first announced in August. In a related transaction, NeXstar Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Boulder, Colo., will acquire PerSeptive's DNA synthesis patent rights for use at NeXstar Technology Products, a specialty chemicals and process technologies business unit.

* Pharming Holding NV, of Leiden, the Netherlands, is creating a U.S. subsidiary, Pharming Healthcare Inc., for the development and commercialization of three blood-clotting proteins — Factor VIII, Factor IX and fibrinogen — produced in the milk of transgenic animals. Pharming Healthcare licensed technology for the proteins from American Red Cross Biomedical Services, of Arlington, Va.

* IGG International Inc., of Boston, changed its name to SafeScience Inc. and now trades on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol SAFS. SafeScience, which specializes in carbohydrate compounds, said the new name "reflects the company's commitment to setting new standards for 'responsible science.'"