Fitch Ratings Affirms Wyeth's 'A/F1' Ratings.

Business Editors

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Wyeth's (WYE) 'A' senior unsecured debt rating and 'F1' commercial paper rating. The ratings apply to approximately $10 billion of outstanding debt. The Rating Outlook is Stable.

The affirmation results from the announcement of the termination of a federal Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study investigating a specific range of positive and adverse outcomes associated with the use of combination (estrogens coupled with progestins) hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The investigation, which utilized the Wyeth drug product Prempro, was halted after 5.2 years in response to test data exceeding a statistical boundary for invasive breast cancer and to a global index statistic which supported risks exceeding benefits of combination HRT therapy. Prempro in conjunction with Wyeth's other estrogen/progestin product, Premphase, generated approximately $888 million in 2001 sales (6.3% of total sales). The WHI is continuing a separate estrogen-only study using another Wyeth HRT product, Premarin ($1.19 billion in 2001 sales). Uncertainty of the patient reaction to the WHI study results may affect Wyeth revenues, however Fitch does not anticipate a material affect on overall credit quality.

Wyeth maintains strong cash flow generation, attractive growth in its core pharmaceutical product line, stable earnings from its consumer OTC products, and a large cash balance as well as the company's 41% holding in Immunex Corp. (which represents approximately 8% of the Amgen/Immunex merger and $1 billion in cash). Wyeth has made significant progress in addressing the Redux/Pondimin litigation having paid approximately $12 billion in settlements through the end of the first quarter 2002. The company continues to pay a large dividend and consumes significant cash flow on capital expenditures.