NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 13, 2004--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that the ratings and outlook on Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (AA-/Negative/A-1+) would not be affected after the company's co-marketing partner, ImClone Systems (unrated), announced that its cancer treatment Erbitux had been approved by the FDA after a prolonged delay. Bristol-Myers acquired the U.S. marketing rights for Erbitux, a monoclonal antibody-based treatment, in late 2001 for nearly $2 billion. The approval adds another new drug with high sales potential to Bristol-Myers' portfolio, which has already seen the recent additions of antipsychotic Abilify and AIDS/HIV medication Reyataz. However, Bristol-Myers continues to face a number of significant patent expirations in the next several years, culminating with the patent expiration on
