Biovail Provides Guidance on 2003 Third Quarter Results.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 3, 2003

Biovail Corporation (NYSE:BVF)(TSX:BVF) announced today that while it has not completed a final compilation and analysis of its 2003 third quarter, preliminary results indicate that revenues will be below previously issued guidance and will be in the range of $215 million to $235 million and earnings per share of $0.35 to $0.45 for the three months ended September 30, 2003. Contributing significantly to this unfavorable variance was the loss of revenue and income associated with a significant in-transit shipment loss of Wellbutrin XL as a result of a traffic accident.

After leaving Biovail's Steinbach, Manitoba manufacturing facility on September 30, 2003, a truck carrying a material shipment of Wellbutrin XL was involved in a multi-vehicle traffic accident at approximately 4 p.m. eastern standard time October 1, 2003 near Chicago, Illinois. While this product may still be salable in the future, it must first be returned for inspection to Biovail's manufacturing facility in Manitoba to ensure it is still within acceptable specifications. Revenue associated with this shipment is in the range of $10 to $20 million. The manufacturing cost value of this shipment was fully insured.

As a result of numerous recent inquiries, Biovail also comments on two additional items associated with third quarter income.

Biovail has an economic interest in the gross profits derived from the sales of a generic version of omeprazole. The distributor of this generic omeprazole product has announced that it will provide significant price reductions on a retroactive basis to wholesalers. This distributor has also indicated that it will be lowering its financial guidance for this product given lower pricing and for competitive reasons. Biovail's second half 2003 financial guidance assumed that additional competition for generic omeprazole would seriously erode the financial benefit to the Company's interest in the gross profits of this product. However, since Biovail shares in a percentage of the gross profit of this product, significant credits issued by the distributor during the third quarter 2003 could have a negative effect on Biovail's participating interest of up to $15 million in net income. As well, it can be anticipated that there could be a fourth quarter 2003 negative income impact of $15 to $20 million.

During the third quarter 2003, Biovail was working with Aventis, the supplier of branded Cardizem CD product, to alleviate a back order position that existed at the end of June 2003. Considerable progress was made in this regard during the third quarter 2003 and additional shipments from Aventis were received in Q3 however, further shipments, which had been anticipated prior to September 30, 2003 arrived immediately following quarter-end. As a result, these additional shipments will not be included in third quarter 2003 revenue as expected but will favorably impact fourth quarter 2003 revenue. During third quarter 2003, approximately half of the June 30, 2003 back order position was alleviated however, due to continued strong sales of Cardizem CD 360 mg and new orders for this dosage strength, backorders have increased to approximately $18 million as at September 30, 2003. We will continue to work with Aventis to rectify this situation expeditiously.

Biovail management it will host a conference call and webcast on Friday, October 3rd, 2003 at 10:30 a.m. EST for company executives to discuss 2003 third quarter earnings guidance. Following the discussion, Biovail executives will address inquiries from investment analysts.

A live webcast of this call will be available through the Investor Relations section of the Biovail web site, www.biovail.com . Alternatively, please dial 1-800-884-5695 (North America.) or 1-617-786-2960 for International callers, with passcode 29341981, to access the conference call. A replay of the conference call will be available until 7:00 p.m. EST on Friday, October 10th, 2003 by dialing 1-888-286-8010 (North America) or 1-617-801-6888 for International callers, using access code, 45094403.

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.

For further information, please contact Ken Howling at 905-286-3000 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.