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Exhibit 10(k)

          Panax Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. to Combine
               with Sangen Pharmaceutical Company

     NEW YORK, NY:  January  21, 1997 -- Panax Pharmaceutical Company Ltd.
[NASDAQ:  PANX, PANXU, PANXW] today announced that it has agreed in principle to
effect the combination of its business with Sangen Pharmaceutical Company,
Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, a privately held corporation organized to engage in
the discovery and development of pharmaceutical products for treatment of
infectious and inflammatory diseases and cancer.  The transaction is subject to
the satisfaction of several contingencies, including the execution of a
definitive agreement and completion of new debt or equity financing for the
combined entity.  Leonard S. Jacob, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive
Officer of Sangen, will become the Chairman of the Board and Chief  Executive
Officer of the new company. Taffy Williams, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive
Officer of Panax, will become the new company's President and Chief Operating
Officer. The new company's Board of Directors will initially include persons
designated by both Panax and Sangen. 

     At the closing of the transaction, Dr. Jacob and certain others associated
with Sangen will receive, in the aggregate, a combination of 2,350,000 shares 
of, and warrants to purchase, Panax Common Stock.  Pending the receipt of the
new financing, Panax has agreed to provide financial support for research and
development of the technologies described below. 

     Sangen owns the right to acquire an exclusive worldwide license to the
soluble CD14 inflammation suppression technology developed by Dr. Sanna Goyert,
Associate Professor of Medicine at Cornell University Medical College and
Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Hematology at North Shore University
Hospital.  Dr. Goyert discovered the CD14 receptor on monocytes and elucidated
the receptor's fundamental role in the spread of bacterial infections and
inflammation.  Pre-clinical data indicate that drugs which block the CD14
receptor could be used to treat inflammatory diseases like inflammatory bowel
disease (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis) or complications from life
threatening infections by inhibiting the release of TNF and other
pro-inflammatory mediators.  Dr. Goyert is currently working to isolate new
molecules which appear to inhibit this receptor.

     Additionally, Sangen holds the rights to acquire an exclusive worldwide
license to the Thrombospondin (TSP-1) technology owned by Allegheny University
of the Health Sciences and discovered by Dr. George Tuszynski, Professor of
Surgery, Medicine and Pathology at the University.  Dr. Tuszynski's discovery of
the TSP-1 receptor and his pre-clinical demonstration of its critical role in
promoting metastasis may have a major impact on the treatment of cancer.  The
Company initially expects to develop a drug which blocks this receptor to 
prevent the spread of lung cancer.  Certain Sangen compounds shown to block 
metastasis in animal models via the TSP-1 receptor also exhibit 
anti-angiogenic activity. 
Drs. Goyert and Tuszynski will co-chair the new company's Scientific Advisory
Board.

     Dr. Jacob, who previously was co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of
Magainin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and prior to that Vice President, Worldwide
Clinical Research & Development, SmithKline & French Pharmaceutical Company,
commented that "the recent acquisition by Panax of its novel preparative tablet
product for clearing the colon prior to colonoscopy provides the new company 
with a valuable late stage drug candidate.  Additionally, Panax provides 
excellent established chemical synthesis capabilities which will be necessary 
to exploit the full potential of our technologies."

     Dr. Williams, President of Panax, stated his belief that "the combination
would allow Panax to accelerate its  commercialization strategy by the addition
of two platform technologies that have potential to yield several IND 
candidates, including one in the GI-field (a primary focus of the combined 
company) and one in the cancer field."

     The enabling technologies of Sangen coupled with Panax's recent acquisition
of the rights to the GI-purgative product will provide the new company the
opportunity to more rapidly develop and commercialize its products.