Biovail Corp. International, a developer of sustained-releasedrug delivery products, said that it has filed for an initialpublic offering of 2.7 million shares of common stock with aproposed price of $11 to $13 per share.

Of the shares being sold, 2.3 million are being sold by theToronto company and 400,000 are being sold by Trimel Corp.,Biovail's sole shareholder. If the offering is completed, Trimel, aholding company that also has a medical electronicsinformation division, will hold about 65 percent of the 7.7million shares outstanding.

Biovail was formed in October 1991 to acquire certain assets ofTrimel, including a manufacturing plant under construction;IWF Research, a 100-bed contract research organization; andBiovail SA of Zug, Switzerland.

Biovail SA, acquired last year, has developed formulations of12 existing pharmaceutical products using oral controlledrelease technology developed by Dr. Arnold Beckett. Beckett,formerly head of the school of pharmacology at the Universityof London, owned 50 percent of Biovail SA.

Licensees include Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Sanofi, Searle andSandoz Pharma.

The technology, which isn't patentable and depends on tradesecrets, involves the use of a pellet system.

Biovail is currently developing generic versions of nine existingsustained-release products, including four calcium channelblockers. Two products are licensed to Geneva Pharmaceuticals,a subsidiary of Ciba-Geigy, and one is licensed to ZenithLaboratories.

Underwriter Furman Selz Inc. has a 405,000-shareoverallotment option. -- KB

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