Biovail Acquires Four Cardiovascular Pipeline Products from Athpharma Limited.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 28, 2003

Biovail Corporation (NYSE:BVF)(TSX:BVF) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Athpharma Limited of Ireland to acquire four new cardiovascular products under development, which complement Biovail's most recently launched product, Cardizem(R)LA for the treatment of hypertension. This agreement allows Biovail to participate in the development of these products while Athpharma will undertake the management and completion of the development of these four products.

Two of these developmental programs, Bisochron (bisoprolol), a beta blocker for the treatment of hypertension, and Isochron (isosorbide-5-mononitrate), a long acting nitrate for the treatment of angina, are designed to offer better protection against the increased risk of cardiovascular events caused by the early morning surge in blood pressure. Hepacol I (pravastatin) and Hepacol II (simvastatin) are both medications for the treatment of high cholesterol (lipid lowering agents) that target the delivery of the active drug to the liver, where cholesterol breaks down. Because of this mechanism, the liver-selective delivery maintains efficacy at a lower dose, while maintaining or even improving the product's safety profile.

Bisochron and Isochron will allow Biovail to expand and complement its cardiovascular franchise. As well, the two lipid lowering medications will offer physicians effective cholesterol-lowering medications.

"These four pipeline products constitute strategic additions to our product development portfolio," commented Eugene Melnyk, Chairman and CEO of Biovail. "They are strategically aligned with our current cardiovascular pipeline of products under development and complement Biovail's existing in-market cardiovascular product portfolio."

Markets

Statistics indicate that more than 50 million Americans -- 26% of the adult population -- suffer from high blood pressure and over six million Americans suffer from angina. The Beta-blocker market, to which Bisochron belongs, is estimated at $1.6 billion and approximately 105 million prescriptions were written for the 12 months ended December 2002. The long acting nitrate market, to which Isochron belongs, is valued at over $115 million and nearly 12 million prescriptions written in this same time period. Hepacol I and Hepacol II, which both belong to the statin family of lipid lowering agents, have a $12.5 billion market with 119 million prescriptions written during 2002. The statin market segment is one of the largest in the pharmaceutical industry.

Biovail Corporation is an international full-service pharmaceutical company, engaged in the formulation, clinical testing, registration, manufacture, sale and promotion of pharmaceutical products utilizing advanced drug delivery technologies.

Athpharma Limited, an independent privately-owned specialty pharmaceutical company, based in Athlone, Ireland, focuses on the development of new presentations, uses and indications for existing drugs, or known molecular entities (KME), designed to improve the clinical utility, efficacy and safety of these drugs. Athpharma is currently developing a portfolio of KME-based proprietary products for the treatment of cardiovascular and gastrointestinal conditions.

For further Biovail information, please contact Ken Howling at 905-286-3000 or send inquiries to [e-mail]. For further Athpharma information, please contact John Devane at [phone] or send inquiries to [e-mail].

"Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

To the extent any statements made in this release contain information that is not historical, these statements are essentially forward looking and are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the difficulty of predicting FDA approvals, acceptance and demand for new pharmaceutical products, the impact of competitive products and pricing, new product development and launch, reliance on key strategic alliances, availability of raw materials, the regulatory environment, fluctuations in operating results and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.