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Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Post-Closing Leadership Team

BusinessWire

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) today announced the future
leadership team of the combined company effective upon completion of the
company’s pending merger with Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG).

The company is evolving key aspects of its R&D and Commercialization
structure to drive the continued growth of a highly successful marketed
portfolio, maximize the six near-term launch opportunities and deliver
the value of the combined pipeline, all guided by its continued mission
of serving patients with serious disease. The business will be supported
by a lean infrastructure to enable efficiency and agility.

“I’m looking forward to working with this Leadership Team as we combine
the strengths of Bristol-Myers Squibb and Celgene to enhance the value
of our marketed portfolio, deliver six significant new product launches
and realize the full potential of our deep and broad pipeline,” said
Giovanni Caforio, M.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Bristol-Myers Squibb. “We are building on a strong track record of
best-in-class commercial execution, industry-leading science and a
culture of collaboration and innovation. Together, we will create the
leading biopharma company, one that will be known for pursuing the best
science to create highly innovative medicines that bring meaningful
benefits to patients and value to shareholders.”

Research & Development

The new structure will focus on the innovation core to both companies’
success, pairing internal discovery with strong partnerships that
provide access to external innovation. To deliver on the full value of
its R&D capabilities, Bristol-Myers Squibb is evolving the structure and
leadership around two core functional areas, Research & Early
Development (R&ED) and Global Drug Development.

Rupert Vessey, M.A., B.M., B.Ch., F.R.C.P., D.Phil., will serve as
President, Research & Early Development, reporting to Caforio and
serving as a member of the Leadership Team. Vessey is the current
President, Research & Early Development at Celgene. Under Vessey’s
leadership, the R&ED organization will work as a cohesive unit across
Discovery, Early Development and Translational Medicine to advance
promising assets through the early pipeline. Vessey will oversee the
company’s expanded range of discovery platforms to drive scientific
advancements across therapeutic areas and will work closely with
Business Development to identify external sources of innovation.

Samit Hirawat, M.D., will join Bristol-Myers Squibb as the Chief Medical
Officer, Global Drug Development, leading the development organization
across therapeutic areas. Hirawat will report to Caforio and will serve
as a member of the Leadership Team. Hirawat will be joining from
Novartis where he was most recently Executive Vice President and Head of
Oncology Development. Hirawat brings extensive experience in a range of
roles in drug development. Under his leadership, the development
organization will ensure progression of pipeline assets from
proof-of-concept to commercialization through world-class clinical trial
design and operations.

Tom Lynch, M.D., will continue to serve as Executive Vice President &
Chief Scientific Officer, reporting to Caforio and serving as a member
of the Leadership Team until he departs the company by October 1, 2019,
to pursue opportunities in healthcare. Lynch has played a significant
role in evolving R&D, including enhancing the company’s translational
medicine capabilities and increasing its focus on disease biology and
data and analytics.

“I want to thank Tom for joining the company from our Board of
Directors, for his leadership as Chief Scientific Officer in building
new capabilities in R&D and for his support during this period of
transition,” said Caforio.

Commercialization

With nine $1 billion-plus marketed products, six near-term launch
opportunities and four strengthened global franchises of Oncology,
Hematology, Immunology and Cardiovascular, our combined company is well
positioned for continued growth.

Two experienced and proven leaders will work closely together to ensure
that Bristol-Myers Squibb’s commercialization organization continues to
deliver superior in-market performance and successfully launch new
products, leveraging existing strong capabilities across the entire
portfolio.

Chris Boerner, Ph.D., will continue in his role as Executive Vice
President and Chief Commercialization Officer, reporting to Caforio and
serving as a member of the Leadership Team. Boerner is currently
responsible for commercial strategy and execution for the BMS portfolio
across all geographies. Following transaction close, he will assume an
expanded role, overseeing the combined company’s Oncology, Immunology
and Cardiovascular global businesses, Worldwide Value, Access and
Pricing, and Worldwide Commercial Operations. The Global Medical
organization will also report to Boerner following the transaction close.

Nadim Ahmed will serve as President, Hematology, reporting to Caforio
and serving as a member of the Leadership Team. Ahmed is the current
President, Global Hematology & Oncology at Celgene. Following
transaction close, Ahmed will oversee the company’s Hematology business
including Cell Therapy. Ahmed brings deep expertise in Hematology, an
area of critical importance for the combined company’s near-term
success, including four potential near-term launches.

Chief Financial Officer

David Elkins, who is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Celgene,
will be appointed the company’s Executive Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer, reporting to Caforio and serving as a member of the
Leadership Team. Elkins has a long career in finance, including roles of
increasing responsibility at Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca and as
the Chief Financial Officer of Becton Dickinson. Elkins will have
oversight of the Finance organization, Business Insights & Analytics and
Procurement.

Following transaction close, Charles Bancroft will work closely with
Elkins to ensure an effective transition of all financial and
operational matters. He will also continue with the company as Executive
Lead for Integration, reporting to Caforio and serving as a member of
the Leadership Team, until he retires from the company during 2020 after
35 years of service.

Caforio commented, “I would like to thank Charlie for his extraordinary
contributions during his 10 years as Chief Financial Officer and for his
partnership and support. Charlie has played a significant leadership
role in driving our company strategy, leading our transformation and
executing important business development activities, including the
acquisition of Celgene. I appreciate Charlie’s commitment to lead the
integration to help make this combination a reality.”

As previously announced, Caforio will continue to serve as Chairman of
the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Below is the full
Bristol-Myers Squibb post-closing Leadership Team announced today:

*Adam Dubow will continue to report to Sandra Leung, Executive
Vice President & General Counsel

**Joseph Eid will report to Chris Boerner, Executive Vice
President & Chief Commercialization Officer

About Bristol-Myers Squibb

Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission
is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help
patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information about
Bristol-Myers Squibb, visit us at BMS.com or
follow us on LinkedIn,
Twitter,
YouTube
and Facebook.

Important Information For Investors And Stockholders

This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the
solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any
vote or approval. It does not constitute a prospectus or prospectus
equivalent document. No offering of securities shall be made except by
means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the U.S.
Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. You can
generally identify forward-looking statements by the use of
forward-looking terminology such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,”
“could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “explore,” “evaluate,” “intend,” “may,”
“might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” or
“will,” or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or
comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements are only
predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many
of which are beyond Bristol-Myers Squibb’s and Celgene’s control.

Important risk factors could cause actual future results and other
future events to differ materially from those currently estimated by
management, including, but not limited to, the risks that: the
completion of the Merger may not occur on the anticipated terms and
timing or at all; a condition to the closing of the Merger may not be
satisfied; the combined company will have substantial indebtedness
following the completion of the Merger; Bristol-Myers Squibb is unable
to achieve the synergies and value creation contemplated by the Merger;
Bristol-Myers Squibb is unable to promptly and effectively integrate
Celgene’s businesses; management’s time and attention is diverted on
transaction related issues; disruption from the transaction makes it
more difficult to maintain business, contractual and operational
relationships; the credit ratings of the combined company decline
following the Merger; legal proceedings are instituted against
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene or the combined company; Bristol-Myers
Squibb, Celgene or the combined company is unable to retain key
personnel; and the announcement or the consummation of the Merger has a
negative effect on the market price of the capital stock of
Bristol-Myers Squibb and Celgene or on Bristol-Myers Squibb’s and
Celgene’s operating results.

Additional information concerning these risks, uncertainties and
assumptions can be found in Bristol-Myers Squibb’s and Celgene’s
respective filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
“SEC”), including the risk factors discussed in Bristol-Myers Squibb’s
and Celgene’s most recent Annual Reports on Form 10-K, as updated by
their Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and future filings with the SEC.
Except as otherwise required by law, Bristol-Myers Squibb undertakes no
obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as
a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts

Media:
Carrie Fernandez
609-252-5222
Carrie.Fernandez@bms.com
or
Andy
Brimmer / Dan Katcher
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
212-355-4449

Investors:
Tim Power
609-252-7509
timothy.power@bms.com

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