BOSTON (Standard&Poor's) June 23, 2010--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that Valeant Pharmaceuticals International's (BB-/Stable/--) announced intention to merge with Biovail has no effect on its ratings or outlook for the company. The possibility of a strategic move to expand Valeant's relatively limited presence in the prescription drug market already was incorporated into our credit assessment. At the same time, this transaction is in line with the aggressive financial risk profile we believed that Valeant would pursue. The merger would roughly double Valeant's revenues to about $1.6 billion, and create a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on four growth platforms: specialty CNS, dermatology, Canada and Australia, and emerging markets/branded generics. Biovail would contribute to the product portfolio, among
