NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) June 8, 2001--Standard&Poor's today affirmed its triple-'A' corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings, as well as its 'A-1+' short-term corporate credit and commercial paper ratings, on Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. The outlook has been revised to negative from stable. The outlook revision reflects not only the significantly increased debt burden Bristol-Myers will incur in its announced $7.8 billion cash acquisition of DuPont's pharmaceuticals division, but also the heightened concerns relating to generic competition to a number of Bristol-Myers' mainstay products, such as the diabetes treatment, Glucophage, the anticancer agent, Taxol, and the antianxiety drug, BuSpar. The ratings on New York City-based Bristol-Myers reflect the company's continuing position as one of the world's
