Bangalore, March 23, 2009

Facility Signals Bristol-Myers Squibb's commitment to R&D in Asia with investment spanning Discovery, Development and Education

Syngene International, a subsidiary of Indian biotechnology major, BIOCON Ltd, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) announced today the opening of a fully dedicated research and development facility for Bristol-Myers Squibb in Biocon Park, Bangalore.

The 200,000 square-foot facility at Biocon Park is dedicated to helping advance Bristol-Myers Squibb's work in discovery and early drug development, and is currently occupied by 270 researchers. Construction on the facility began in March 2007, when Bristol-Myers Squibb and Biocon entered into an agreement to develop integrated drug discovery and development capabilities at Syngene.

The facility will house 360 researchers by the end of the year and could accommodate as many as 450 employees in the future. Work at the facility will span the drug discovery and development process from initial hit to lead optimization to early pharmaceutical development to clinical nomination to Phase I and Phase II clinical studies. The building of this facility signals Bristol-Myers Squibb's commitment to R&D in Asia.

"We are pleased to build upon our more-than 10 year relationship with Biocon with the completion of this dedicated R&D facility and the establishment of this integrated R&D center in Asia," said Elliott Sigal, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer and President, Research and Development, Bristol-Myers Squibb. "The opening of this facility is an integral part of our company's strategy to access top talent around the world and establish a research and development presence in Asia."

"Syngene's multi-disciplinary skills in synthetic chemistry, process chemistry and molecular biology. have garnered international repute. This collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb is a testimonial to Syngene's global reputation and offers a powerful value-added capability base for Bristol-Myers Squibb," said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD, Biocon.

Syngene's COO, Goutam Das added "Bristol-Myers Squibb has been one of our earliest customers with whom we have built an enduring research partnership based on trust and reliability. The inauguration of this fully dedicated research and development facility at Biocon Park, symbolizes the logical expansion of our research capabilities on an integrated platform."

In addition to expanding its research and development capabilities in India through its relationship with Biocon, Bristol-Myers Squibb has committed to supporting the development of scientific excellence in India. Since 2007, Bristol-Myers Squibb has established fellowships supporting doctoral and post-graduate students at four academic institutions in the areas of biology, chemistry, pharmaceutics, drug metabolism, chemical engineering, clinical pharmacology and translational medicine. Bristol-Myers Squibb and Biocon are also exploring public-private educational partnerships with local universities.

"To support talent development in India we are committed to working with academic institutions through fellowships and partnerships to ensure the next generation of graduates has a high level of expertise in drug discovery and development sciences," said Francis Cuss, MB, BChir, FRCP, Senior Vice President, Discovery and Exploratory Clinical Research, Bristol-Myers Squibb.

About Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to extend and enhance human life. For more information visit www.bms.com.

About Biocon
Established in 1978, Biocon Limited is one of India's premier biotechnology companies. Biocon and its two subsidiary companies, Syngene International Ltd and Clinigene International Ltd form a fully integrated biotechnology enterprise, specializing in biopharmaceuticals, custom research and clinical research. With successful initiatives in clinical development, bio-processing and global marketing, Biocon delivers products and solutions to partners and customers across the globe. Many of these products have USFDA and EMEA acceptance. Biocon launched the world's first recombinant human insulin, INSUGEN in November 2004 using Pichia expression and India's first indigenously produced monoclonal antibody BIOMAb-EGFR.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, regarding the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements in the press release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect Bristol-Myers Squibb's business, particularly those identified in the cautionary factors discussion in Bristol-Myers Squibb's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K. Bristol-Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Biocon Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements, which are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations include, amongst others general economic and business conditions in India, our ability to successfully implement our strategy, our research and development efforts, our growth and expansion plans and technological changes, changes in the value of the Rupee and other currency changes, changes in the Indian and international interest rates, change in laws and regulations that apply to the Indian and global biotechnology and pharmaceuticals industries, increasing competition in and the conditions of the Indian biotechnology and pharmaceuticals industries, changes in political conditions in India and changes in the foreign exchange control regulations in India. Neither our company, our directors, nor any of our affiliates have any obligation to update or otherwise revise any statements reflecting circumstances arising after this date or to reflect the occurrence of underlying events, even if the underlying assumptions do not come to fruition.