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- ------                                             OMB Number         3235-0287
FORM 4                                             Expires:    February 1, 2000
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                                                   0.5 hours
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                                 U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                                         WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
                                       
                               STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP
/ / Check this box if no                                                     
    longer subject to         Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities 
    Section 16. Form 4            Exchange Act of 1934, Section 17(a) of the 
    or Form 5 obligations         Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935
    may continue. See              or Section 30(1) of the Investment Company
    Instruction 1(b).                           Act of 1940               

                                                                                                          
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 1. Name and Address of Reporting Person*      2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol   6. Relationship of Reporting Person to
    Skelly        William             G.          Halsey Drug Co., Inc.    Symbol: HDG          Issuer
- -------------------------------------------    --------------------------------------------      X  Director         10% Owner
  (Last)          (First)          (Middle)    3. IRS or Social Security  4. Statement for      ----              ---
                                                  Number of Reporting        Month/Year             Officer (give  X Other (Specify
c/o Halsey Drug Co. 695 N. Perryville Bldg. 2     Person (Voluntary)            2/99            ----        title ---       below)
- ---------------------------------------------                             -------------------               below)
                 (Street)                        --------------------    5. If Amendment,                 Chairman                  
Rockford        Illinois            61107                                   Date of Original    ------------------------------------
- ---------------------------------------------                               (Month/Year)     7. Individual or Group Filing
(City)          (State)             (Zip)                                                        (Check Applicable Line)
                                                                            ------------      X  Form filed by One Reporting Person
                                                                                             ---                                    
                                                                                                 Form filed by more than one
                                                                                             --- Reporting Person
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                         TABLE 1 -- NON-DERIVATIVE SECURITIES ACQUIRED, DISPOSED OF, OR BENEFICIALLY OWNED
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 1. Title of Security           2. Trans-   3. Transac-  4. Securities Acquired (A)  5.  Amount of Se-    6. Owner-      7. Nature  
  (Instr. 3)                       action      tion         or Disposed of (D)           curities Benefi-    ship           of In-  
                                   Date        Code         (Instr. 3, 4 and 5)          cially Owned at     Form:          direct  
                                               (Instr. 8)                                End of Month        Direct         Benefi-
                                  (Month/                                                (Instr. 3 and 4)    (D) or         cial
                                   Day/   ---------------------------------------                            Indirect       Owner- 
                                   Year)  Code    V      Amount   (A) or    Price                            (I)            ship   
                                                                  (D)                                        (Instr. 4)     (Instr.
                                                                                                                            4)     

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    Common Stock                  4/29/98  P4            10,000    A        $2.85          10,000               D
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Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially owned directly or indirectly.                   (Over)
*If this Form is filed by more than one person, see Instruction 4(b)(v).                                             SFC 1474 (3/91)
 
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FORM 4 (CONTINUED) TABLE II -- DERIVATIVE SECURITIES ACQUIRED, DISPOSED OF, OR BENEFICIALLY OWNED (E.G., PUTS, CALLS, WARRANTS, OPTIONS, CONVERTIBLE SECURITIES) - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Title of Derivative 2. Conver- 3. Trans- 4. Trans- 5. Number of 6. Date Exer- 7. Title and Amount 8. Price Security sion or action action Derivative cisable and of Underlying of (Instr. 3) Exercise Date Code Securities Ac- Expiration Securities Deriv- Price of (Month/ (Instr. 8) quired (A) or Date (Instr. 3 and 4) ative Deriv- Day/ Disposed of (D) (Month/Day/ Secur- ative Year) (Instr. 3, 4, Year) ity Security and 5) (Instr. 5) ----------------------------------- Date Expira- Amount or -------------------------- Exer- tion Title Number of Code V (A) (D) cisable Date Shares - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Non-qualified stock options $1.225 2/18/99 A 15,000 (1) 2/19/09 Common 15,000 Stock - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Title of Derivative 9. Number of 10. Ownership 11. Nature of Security Derivative Form of Indirect (Instr. 3) Securities Derivative Beneficial Beneficially Security: Ownership Owned at End Direct (D) (Instr. 4) of Month or Indirect (I) (Instr. 4) (Instr. 4) - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 130,000 D - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Explanation: (1) Options vest over twelve (12) months: 3,750 on 5/18/99; 3,750 on 2/18/00. 3,750 on 11/18/99 and final 3,750 options on 2/18/00 Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal William G. Skelly March 8, 1999 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. If space provided is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure. Potential persons who are to respond to the collection of information contained in this form are not required to respond unless the form displays a currently valid OMB Number.