Bristol-Myers Squibb

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This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. Brand name drugs include Plavix (heart disease), Pravachol (cholesterol) and Avapro (hypertension). BMS also makes the antipsychotic medication Abilify and a number of other oncology, virology (including HIV) and autoimmune disease drugs. Through its Mead Johnson subsidiary, BMS makes Enfamil infant formula and other nutritional products for children. The company has over 30 manufacturing plants worldwide and ten research and development (R&D) centers in five countries. The U.S. accounts for approximately half of BMS' global sales.[1]

In the fiscal year ending in December of 2009, the company reported sales of approximately 18.81 billion dollars and had 35,000 employees. [2]

Support for the American Legislative Exchange Council

Bristol-Myers Squibb is a corporate member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) as of 2009.[3]

About ALEC
ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site.

Animal testing

Bristol-Myers Squibb does animal testing.

Facility information, progress reports & USDA-APHIS reports

For links to copies of a facility's U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Animal Plant Health Inspection (APHIS) reports, other information and links, see also Stop Animal Experimentation NOW!: Facility Reports and Information. This site contains listings for all 50 states, links to biomedical research facilities in that state and PDF copies of government documents where facilities must report their animal usage. (Search: North Billerica, Massachusetts; Hopewell (Pennington), New Jersey; Lawrenceville, NJ; New Brunswick, NJ; Princeton, NJ; Somerville, NJ.)

USDA AWA reports

As of May 26, 2009, the USDA began posting all inspection reports for animal breeders, dealers, exhibitors, handlers, research facilities and animal carriers by state. See also USDA Animal Welfare Inspection Reports.

Contract testing

Bristol-Myers contract tests out to Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS).[4] Huntingdon Life Sciences is the 3rd largest contract research organization (CRO) in the world and the largest animal testing facility in all of Europe. Firms hire CROs to conduct animal toxicity tests for agrochemicals, petrochemicals, household products, pharmaceutical drugs and toxins. HLS has a long history of gross animal welfare violations. See also Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Drug issues

Abilify

Abilify is an antipsychotic drug. In September 2007 the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that BMS agreed to pay over $515 million dollars in a settlement over drug pricing and promotion practices:

"from 2002 through the end of 2005, BMS knowingly promoted the sale and use of Abilify, an atypical antipsychotic drug, for pediatric use and to treat dementia-related psychosis, both 'off-label' uses. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Abilify to treat adult schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, but has not approved the use of Abilify for children and adolescents or for geriatric patients suffering from dementia-related psychosis. Indeed, the FDA has mandated that the package for Abilify carry a “black box” warning concerning its use in the treatment of dementia-related psychosis. Nonetheless, BMS directed its sales force to call on child psychiatrists and other pediatric specialists, and the sales force then urged physicians and others providers to prescribe Abilify for pediatric patients.

BMS also created a specialized long term care sales force that called almost exclusively on nursing homes, where dementia-related psychosis is far more prevalent than schizophrenia or bipolar disorder." [5]

Antivirals

Drugs used to treat HIV and AIDS are various classes of toxic chemotherapies known as "antivirals" or "antiretrovirals". See also AIDS industry.

Clinical trials

Toxic drug trials on foster children

See also foster child drug trials.

Tobacco issues

Bristol-Myers Squibb is the maker of the antidepressant drug Buspirone (marketed as Buspar) that was found useful in helping reduce smokers' anxiety when trying to quit. [6]

In 1989, after Henry Kravitz purchased R.J. Reynolds, he hired Louis Gerstner, a board member of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute, to run the company. Gerstner was promptly thrown off Sloan-Kettering's board, but was elected to the board of Bristol Myers.[7] The Bristol-Myers Squibb company went smoke-free in its offices around 1993. [8]

Political contributions

Bruce S. Gelb, Retired Vice Chair of Bristol-Myers Squibb, is a Bush Pioneer having raised at least $100,000 for Bush in the 2004 presidential election. [9]

Bristol-Myers Squibb gave $201,246 dollars to federal candidates in the 2008 election through its political action committee (PAC) - 41% to Democrats, 59% to Republicans, and 6% to other parties.[10]

Lobbying

The company spent $3,804,276 for lobbying in 2009. $3,429,276 went to in-house lobbying and the remainder went to 9 lobbying firms. Some of the firms used were used were Patton Boggs LLP, the Nickles Group, Foley Hoag LLP and BKSH & Associates.[11]

Personnel & board

Key executives

Executive compensation (2006)

  • James M. Cornelius - Chairman & CEO, $455,000
  • Andrew R. J. Bonfield - CFO & Executive VP, $809,000
  • Stephen E. Bear - Senior VP, Human Resources, $466,000
  • Elliott Sigal - Chief Scientific Officer, Executive VP, $728,000
  • Lamberto Andreotti - Executive VP, President, Worldwide Pharmaceuticals, $1,010,000 [13]

Selected board members

Contact

Bristol-Myers Squibb 345 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10154

Phone: 212-546-4000

Fax: 212-546-4020

Web address: http://www.bms.com

Articles & sources

SourceWatch articles

References

  1. ↑ Company Description: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hoovers, accessed March 2010
  2. ↑ Key Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Financials, Hoovers, accessed March 2010
  3. ↑ Meredith Hanley, Director of Donor Relations, American Legislative Exchange Council, Email to leaders of ALEC Health & Human Services Task Force, November 3, 2009, document obtained by open records request and posted on Scribd by Cory Liebmann, March 27, 2011
  4. ↑ Inside Customers, SHAC.net, accessed December 2009
  5. ↑ Bristol-Myers Squibb to Pay More Than $515 Million to Resolve Allegations of Illegal Drug Marketing and Pricing", U.S. Department of Justice, Media Release, September 28, 2007
  6. ↑ Drugs Show Promise Helping Smokers to Quit., Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, July 1989
  7. ↑ Smoke free Workplaces and Public Places, Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, January 1997
  8. ↑ On the Air Guide to Creating a Smoke-free Workplace, Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, 1993
  9. ↑ Pioneers and Rangers, Texans for Public Justice, accessed August 2007.
  10. ↑ 2008 PAC Summary Data, Open Secrets, accessed March 2010
  11. ↑ Bristol-Myers Squibb lobbying expenses, Open Secrets, accessed March 2010
  12. ↑ Company Description: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hoovers, accessed March 2010
  13. ↑ Bristol-Myers Squibb Key Executives, Yahoo Finance, accessed August 2007
  14. ↑ Board of Directors, Bristol-Myers Squibb, accessed August 2007

External articles

External resources

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