Bergen Brunswig Recieves ``Salute to Excellence'' Award From Private Label Manufacturers Association.

Health/Medical Writers

ORANGE, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Dec. 21, 2000

Bergen Brunswig Drug Company (BBDC), a subsidiary of Bergen Brunswig Corporation (NYSE: BBC) has received the 2000 "Salute to Excellence" Award in the wholesaler category from the Private Label Manufacturers Association(PLMA).

The award, open to leading national drug and food wholesalers, recognizes companies who excel in product innovation, marketing and merchandising, packaging and other factors that reflect their overall commitment to the success of store brands. Winners are nominated by PLMA member companies.

"We are honored and delighted to be a recipient of this prestigious award," said Douglas E. Batezel, Bergen's chief procurement officer. "Private label products provide uncommon value for our customers as well as consumers and as such are a high priority at Bergen. We view this honor as recognition not only of the packaging and marketing success of our private label line but also the extensiveness and quality of those lines."

Bergen's private label line of products, which includes Brite Life(R) and Good Neighbor Pharmacy(R) (GNP), are manufactured to the same level of excellence as national brands, and are comparable to those brands in formula, quality and effectiveness, Batezel added.

The Private Label Manufacturers Association is the nation's only trade association devoted exclusively to the private label industry, whose product sales under various labels exceed $43 billion annually from coast to coast.

Bergen Brunswig Corporation, headquartered in Orange County, California, is a leading supplier of pharmaceuticals and specialty healthcare products, as well as information management solutions and consulting services. Bergen's customers include the nation's healthcare providers (hospitals, nursing homes and physicians), drug stores, manufacturers and patients. Through its subsidiaries, Bergen provides product distribution; logistics; pharmacy management programs; and Internet fulfillment strategies designed to reduce costs and improve patient outcomes across the entire healthcare spectrum.

Bergen Brunswig press releases are available on the company's website at www.bergenbrunswig.com.

Except for historical information, all other information set forth in the press release, such as earnings and revenue forecasts and earnings-rate and revenue-rate projections, consists of "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These "forward-looking" statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or implied. Such statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking language, such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "think," "continue," or the negatives or other variations thereof or other similar terminology. Such risks and uncertainties include the risks described in Exhibit 99(a) to the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 1999, and in other reports and exhibits filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the costs and difficulties related to the integration of acquired businesses, the loss or disruption of one or more key customer or supplier relationships, changes in the distribution outsourcing pattern for pharmaceutical products and/or services, the ability to obtain general financing or financing rates that would be compatible with the Company's business operations, and the costs and other effects of governmental regulation and legal and administrative proceedings. The Company assumes no obligation to update the information in this release.