Court Denies Stay Pending Appeal of Order to De-List Taxol Patent.

Business Editors

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 7, 2000

IVAX Corporation (AMEX:IVX) announced that, at a hearing today, Federal District Court Judge William Matthew Byrne declined to issue a stay pending appeal of his order requiring Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) to de-list from the FDA's Orange Book a patent recently issued to American BioScience, Inc. (ABI) purportedly relating to BMY's Taxol(R) product. BMY and ABI had requested the stay in order to keep the patent in the Orange Book during the appeal of the dismissal of ABI's complaint. However, Judge Byrne did grant, as is common in such cases, a limited stay expiring at the close of business on Wednesday, September 13th, to allow ABI and BMY to seek a stay from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

"We are very pleased that Judge Byrne denied this latest effort to delay the effect of his order, which could have kept the patent in the Orange Book for a longer period of time," stated Neil Flanzraich, vice chairman and president of IVAX. "This is another significant step toward our goal of bringing a lower priced generic version of Taxol(R) to the many Americans afflicted with breast and ovarian cancer."

The "FDA" refers to the United States Food and Drug Administration, and the "Orange Book" is officially known as the FDA's list of Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations.

IVAX Corporation, headquartered in Miami, Florida, is a holding company with subsidiaries engaged in the research, development, manufacturing, and marketing of branded and generic pharmaceuticals and veterinary and diagnostic products in the U.S. and international markets.

Except for the historical matters contained herein, statements in this press release are forward-looking and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties which may affect the company's business and prospects, and cause results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. These risks include, among other things, the risks that American BioScience and Bristol-Myers may obtain a stay pending appeal or successfully appeal Judge Byrne's ruling; that Bristol-Myers may re-list the patent before approval of IVAX' paclitaxel ANDA; and that Bristol-Myers or others may attempt to assert in the future other Taxol-related patents that are not part of the current litigation, as well as the general risks and uncertainties inherent generally in litigation. In addition to these factors, the economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors identified in IVAX' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission could affect the forward-looking statements contained in this release. Taxol(R) is a registered trademark of the Bristol Myers-Squibb Company.