A Next-Generation BioPharma Leader
James M. Cornelius
Chairman and CEO
Helping patients prevail in their fight against serious disease is more than our goal. It’s what energizes us to come to work every day. It’s the foundation of our business strategy. And at the end of the day our success as a next-generation BioPharma leader is measured by one thing: the difference we make in the lives of patients.
Around the world, our innovative medicines help millions of people in their fight against serious diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, rheumatoid arthritis, hepatitis B and psychiatric disorders. We may never know every patient whose life we touch, but each has a story to tell.
I invite you to listen to some of those stories, which appear on our website and on http://prevail.bms.com/.
Our mission is to extend and enhance human life, and every day Bristol-Myers Squibb employees demonstrate their commitment to that mission. While we trace our beginnings back 150 years to an unassuming brick building in Brooklyn, New York, we have become a global biopharmaceutical leader for the future. By uniquely combining the reach and resources of a major pharmaceutical company with the can-do spirit and agility of an innovative biotechnology company, we are transforming into a new kind of enterprise – a next-generation BioPharma leader.
Since 2002, we’ve introduced nine new products for the treatment of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hepatitis B, psychiatric disorders, HIV, diabetes and other serious diseases. Two of the medications are biologic products. In the fight against serious disease, biologics – or protein-derived therapies – are playing an increasingly prominent role.
Other biologics, as well as scores of other investigational medicines, are advancing through our R&D pipeline. Bristol-Myers Squibb is recognized as having one of the most productive pipelines in the industry. And we are complementing our internal capabilities with innovative alliances, partnerships and acquisitions in a suite of strategic transactions we call our String of Pearls.
Pursuing our mission also means working hard to expand patient access to medicines. We’re striving toward this goal through public/private partnerships like SECURE THE FUTURE, our pioneering $150 million HIV/AIDS program in Africa, and through our patient assistance programs. Last year, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Patient Assistance Foundation assisted an estimated 274,000 patients with free medications valued at approximately $226 million at wholesale list price.
Bristol-Myers Squibb is building its future growth and leadership by renewing and strengthening our corporate culture. We’re committed to recruiting, retaining and developing top talent with a diversity of background and experience, and we offer an array of career development and advancement opportunities, and a performance management system that rewards behaviors as well as results.
In short, Bristol-Myers Squibb is a great place to work. We’ve been consistently honored by the National Association of Female Executives as one of the Top 50 Companies for Executive Women; and by Working Mother magazine as one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers.
As a result of our BioPharma transformation, we have become a much more admirable enterprise, by external as well as internal measures. In the fifth annual survey by Barron's of the world's 100-most respected companies in 2009, Bristol-Myers Squibb was included for the first time in three years -- ranking 40th, based on a variety of attributes, including strong management, sound business strategy, ethical practices and financial performance.
What sets Bristol-Myers Squibb apart? It’s our focus on finding and developing innovative medicines to combat serious diseases, and getting them to patients faster and more efficiently. We do it for our patients, our shareholders and indeed for us all.
That’s why we say, “Together we can prevail.”
Jim Cornelius
March 2009