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                                                            OMB APPROVAL       
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- --------                                            OMB Number:  3235-0104  
 FORM 3                                             Expires: May 31, 1994 
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                    U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             WASHINGTON, DC 20549

            INITIAL STATEMENT OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES

    Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
                                 Section 17(a)
      of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or Section 30(f)
                     of the Investment Company Act of 1940


                                                                                                                     
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 1. Name and Address of Reporting Person   2. Date of Event Requiring    4. Issuer Name and Ticker or     6. If Amendment, Date 
    Skelly   William          G.              Statement                     Trading Symbol                    of Original
- ----------------------------------------      (Month/Day/Year)              Halsey Drug Co., Inc. (HDG)       (Month/Day/Year)
     (Last)     (First)     (Middle)              2/19/98                ------------------------------
                                           ----------------------------  5. Relationship of Reporting     7. Individual or Joint/   
- ----------------------------------------   3. IRS or Social Security          Person to Issuer               Group Filing (Check
             (Street)                         Number of Reporting           (Check all applicable)           Applicable Line)       
 c/o Central Biomedia Inc.                    Person (Voluntary)         _X_ Director   ___  10% Owner       _X Form filed by One   
9900 Pflumm Road                                 ###-##-####             ___ Officer    ___   Other             Reporting Person
- --------------------------------------     ----------------------------  (give title below)  (specify below) __ Form filed by More  
      (City)      (State)      (Zip)                                                                            than One Reporting  
    Lenexa        Kanaas,     66215                                            ---------------------------      Person            
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                                                            TABLE 1 -- NON-DERIVATIVE SECURITIES BENEFICIALLY OWNED      
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 1. Title of Security                         2. Amount of Securities         3. Ownership Form:         4. Nature of Indirect     
    (Instr. 4)                                   Beneficially Owned              Direct (D) or              Beneficial    
                                                 (Instr. 4)                      Indirect (I)               Ownership (Instr. 5)
                                                                                 (Instr. 5)                 
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Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially owned directly or indirectly.                   (Over)
                                                                               (Print or Type Responses)             SEC 1473 (8/92)
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FORM 3 (CONTINUED) TABLE II -- DERIVATIVE SECURITIES BENEFICIALLY OWNED (E.G., PUTS, CALLS, WARRANTS, OPTIONS, CONVERTIBLE SECURITIES) - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Title of Derivative Security 2. Date 3. Title and Amount of 4. Conver- 5. Owner- 6. Nature of Indirect (Instr. 4) Exercisable and Securities Underlying sion or ship Beneficial Ownership Expiration Date Derivative Security Exercise Form of (Instr. 5) (Month/Day/ (Instr. 4) Price of Deriv- Year) Deri- ative vative Security: Security Direct ------------------------------------------------- (D) or Date Expira- Amount or Indirect (I) Exercis- tion Title Number (Instr. 5) able Date of Shares - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stock Option * * Common Stock 15,000 $2.38 D - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Explanation of Responses: *Date of grant of stock option March 10, 1998; Date Exercisable and Expiration Date to be determined. /s/ W. G. Skelly March 25, 1998 **Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal ------------------------------- -------------- Violations. See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a). **Signature of Reporting Person Date Note. File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed. Page 2 If space provided is insufficient, See Instruction 6 for procedure. SEC 1473 (8/92)