On April 4, 2002, Standard&Poor's placed its triple-'A' corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings rating for pharmaceutical maker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. on CreditWatch, with negative implications. The action follows the company's announcement of lower than expected earnings for 2002 due to continued fierce generic competition, lower-than-expected sales of existing products, and planned steps by Bristol-Myers to reduce inventory levels of its drugs at wholesalers. The announcement is the latest in a recent string of negative developments at New York, N.Y.-based Bristol-Myers, which has seen mainstay drugs -– Taxol, BuSpar, and Glucophage, go off patent over the past year and a half and is struggling to bring its next generation of significant drugs to market. The company also
