EXHIBIT 99.3

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Adam C. Derbyshire                 Mike Freeman
         Vice President and CFO             Director, Investor Relations and
         919-862-1000                       Corporate Communications


                     SALIX PHARMACEUTICALS BEGINS TRADING
                           ON NASDAQ NATIONAL MARKET


RALEIGH, NC, February 26, 2001 - Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (Nasdaq:SLXP) today
began trading shares of its common stock on the Nasdaq National Market. "SLXP"
will continue to be the company's trading symbol on the National Market. This
move follows the Company's November 20, 2000 initiation of trading on the Nasdaq
SmallCap Market.

Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, develops
and markets prescription pharmaceutical products for the treatment of
gastrointestinal diseases. Salix is executing a strategy to in-license
proprietary therapeutic drugs which have an existing database of positive, late-
stage clinical data; complete the development and regulatory submission of these
products; and market them through the Company's gastroenterology specialty sales
force. Salix's lead product is COLAZAL(TM), an anti-inflammatory drug, approved
for the treatment of mildly to moderately active ulcerative colitis. Salix's
follow-on product candidate is rifaximin, currently in Phase III development for
the potential treatment of infections of the lower gastrointestinal tract. Salix
trades on the Nasdaq National Market under the ticker symbol "SLXP."

For more information about Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. or COLAZAL, please
contact the Company at 919-862-1000 or visit our web site at www.salixpharm.com.
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