On March 10, 2004, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services placed its 'AA-' corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on pharmaceutical manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. on CreditWatch with negative implications. The company's 'A-1+' short-term corporate credit and commercial paper ratings were also placed on CreditWatch negative. The rating actions reflect Standard&Poor's increased concerns about Bristol-Myers' earnings and cash flow prospects, especially after it announced results of a study that could harm the sales prospects of its best-selling product, the cholesterol-lowering statin Pravachol. The company-sponsored study, called "Prove-It," suggested that patients taking a rival statin, Pfizer Inc.'s Lipitor, were 16% less likely to suffer a major cardiovascular event such as a heart attack than patients taking Pravachol. Although the
