Bausch Health vs Bristol-Myers Squibb: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Bausch Health and Bristol-Myers Squibb side by side

1. 1858Bristol-Myers Squibb

   Edward Robinson Squibb opens his Brooklyn laboratory

   Navy surgeon Edward Robinson Squibb started making pure ether and other medicines in Brooklyn. The laboratory burned down on Christmas Eve 1858 and reopened in 1859 after local doctors and surgeons contributed $2,100.

2. 1887Bristol-Myers Squibb

   Bristol and Myers buy the Clinton Pharmaceutical Company

   Hamilton College graduates William McLaren Bristol and John Ripley Myers bought the Clinton Pharmaceutical Company of Clinton, New York, the business that became Bristol-Myers.

3. 1898Bristol-Myers Squibb

   Bristol, Myers and Company is named

   The founders renamed the business Bristol, Myers and Company in May 1898. After Myers died in 1899 it became Bristol-Myers, which built national brands in Sal Hepatica and, from 1901, Ipana toothpaste.

4. 1944Bristol-Myers Squibb

   Penicillin at wartime scale

   Squibb opened what was then the world's largest penicillin plant in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Bristol-Myers had bought Cheplin Biological Laboratories in East Syracuse, New York, in 1943 and converted it to penicillin for Allied forces.

5. 1959Bausch Health

   Milan Panic founds ICN Pharmaceuticals

   Milan Panic, a Yugoslav immigrant to California, founded ICN Pharmaceuticals in 1959 and ran it for four decades. ICN is the predecessor of Valeant Pharmaceuticals and of today's Bausch Health.

6. 1989Bristol-Myers Squibb

   Bristol-Myers and Squibb merge

   Bristol-Myers and Squibb combined to form Bristol-Myers Squibb, uniting a consumer and pharmaceutical company with a research-led drugmaker.

7. 1994Bausch Health

   Biovail Corporation International formed in Canada

   On March 29, 1994 Eugene Melnyk consolidated his Canadian drug-delivery business by amalgamating Trimel Corporation with its subsidiary to create Biovail Corporation International, the legal entity that files today as Bausch Health Companies Inc.

8. 2003Bausch Health

   ICN renames itself Valeant Pharmaceuticals

   ICN Pharmaceuticals, then based in Costa Mesa, California, took the Valeant Pharmaceuticals name in November 2003 to distance itself from the governance fights of the Panic era.

9. 2006Bristol-Myers Squibb

   CEO Peter Dolan removed over the Plavix deal

   After an FBI raid in July 2006 over a patent settlement with generic maker Apotex on the blood thinner Plavix, the federal monitor urged the board to remove CEO Peter Dolan, who stepped down on September 12, 2006.

10. 2008Bausch Health

    J. Michael Pearson becomes chief executive

    Valeant appointed former McKinsey director J. Michael Pearson as chief executive effective February 1, 2008, succeeding Timothy C. Tyson. Pearson replaced internal research spending with debt-funded acquisitions of marketed drugs.

11. 2009Bristol-Myers Squibb

    Medarex bought and Mead Johnson split off

    BMS bought Medarex, gaining Yervoy and a share of what became Opdivo, and split off Mead Johnson Nutrition in an exchange offer, completing its shift to a specialty biopharmaceutical company.

12. 2010Bausch Health

    Biovail and Valeant complete their merger

    The merger of Biovail Corporation and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International closed on September 28, 2010. The combined company kept the Valeant name and Pearson as chief executive but was incorporated in Canada.

13. 2011Bausch Health

    Ortho Dermatologics bought from Johnson and Johnson

    Valeant agreed to acquire the U.S. Ortho Dermatologics assets from Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson and Johnson company, for about $345M in cash, building the dermatology franchise.

14. 2011Bristol-Myers Squibb

    FDA approves Yervoy

    Yervoy (ipilimumab) became the first drug shown to extend overall survival in advanced melanoma, opening BMS's immuno-oncology franchise.

15. 2012Bristol-Myers Squibb

    FDA approves Eliquis

    The FDA approved Eliquis (apixaban), developed with Pfizer, in December 2012 for stroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation. It became BMS's largest product, with $14.4 billion of sales in 2025.

16. 2013Bausch Health

    Bausch + Lomb acquired for $8.7 billion

    Valeant agreed in May 2013 to buy eye-health company Bausch + Lomb from Warburg Pincus for $8.7B in cash, adding contact lenses, lens care, ophthalmic drugs and surgical devices.

17. 2014Bristol-Myers Squibb

    FDA approves Opdivo

    The FDA approved the PD-1 inhibitor Opdivo (nivolumab) in December 2014 for advanced melanoma. It reached $10.0 billion of sales in 2025.

18. 2015Bausch Health

    Salix acquisition closes at about $11.1 billion

    Valeant completed its tender offer for Salix Pharmaceuticals on April 1, 2015 at $173 per share, about $11.1B in equity value and roughly $15.8B including debt, gaining the Xifaxan franchise.

19. 2015Bausch Health

    Drug pricing and Philidor scandal breaks

    Congressional investigators pressed Valeant over 525% and 212% increases on the heart drugs Isuprel and Nitropress, bought in February 2015, and over its undisclosed ties to the Philidor mail-order pharmacy.

20. 2016Bausch Health

    Joseph Papa replaces Pearson as chief executive

    Valeant named Perrigo chief executive Joseph C. Papa as chairman and CEO on April 25, 2016, and he took over in early May 2016 with about $30B of debt outstanding.

21. 2017Bausch Health

    Skincare brands and Dendreon sold to cut debt

    Valeant sold the CeraVe, AcneFree and AMBI skincare brands to L'Oreal for about $1.3B and the Dendreon cancer unit to China's Sanpower Group for about $820M, using the proceeds to repay debt.

22. 2018Bausch Health

    Company renamed Bausch Health Companies Inc.

    The name change from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. to Bausch Health Companies Inc. was completed on July 13, 2018, and the shares began trading as BHC on the NYSE and TSX on July 16, 2018.

23. 2019Bristol-Myers Squibb

    Celgene acquisition closes

    BMS completed its $74 billion purchase of Celgene on November 20, 2019, adding Revlimid, Pomalyst, Reblozyl and CAR-T programs. Celgene sold Otezla to Amgen for $13.4 billion to win regulatory approval.

24. 2020Bausch Health

    SEC settlement closes the Philidor accounting case

    On July 31, 2020 Bausch Health agreed to pay a $45M civil penalty to settle SEC charges of improper revenue recognition and misleading disclosures tied to Philidor. Former chief executive J. Michael Pearson and two other executives also settled.

25. 2020Bristol-Myers Squibb

    MyoKardia deal and a GAAP loss

    BMS bought MyoKardia for $13.1 billion, gaining mavacamten (Camzyos). The deal's $11.4 billion in-process R&D charge pushed 2020 to a net loss despite $42.5 billion of revenue.

26. 2022Bausch Health

    Bausch + Lomb listed on the NYSE and TSX

    Bausch + Lomb common stock began trading under the ticker BLCO on May 6, 2022, and a Bausch Health subsidiary sold 35,000,000 Bausch + Lomb shares in the offering. Bausch Health retained about 88% of the eye-health company and still consolidates it. Thomas J.

27. 2022Bristol-Myers Squibb

    Turning Point bought as Revlimid generics arrive

    BMS completed the $4.1 billion purchase of Turning Point Therapeutics in August 2022 while volume-limited generic lenalidomide began eroding Revlimid, which had peaked at $12.8 billion in 2021.

28. 2023Bristol-Myers Squibb

    Chris Boerner becomes CEO

    Chris Boerner succeeded Giovanni Caforio as chief executive in November 2023 and became board chair on April 1, 2024. Weeks earlier BMS had agreed to buy Mirati, and in December it agreed to buy Karuna and RayzeBio.

29. 2024Bristol-Myers Squibb

    Karuna, Mirati and RayzeBio close; Cobenfy approved

    The three deals closed between January and March 2024. On September 26, 2024 the FDA approved Cobenfy, the first schizophrenia drug that targets muscarinic rather than dopamine receptors. The Karuna charge produced an $8.9 billion net loss for 2024.

30. 2025Bausch Health

    DURECT acquired and record annual revenue reported

    Bausch Health closed the DURECT acquisition on September 11, 2025 for about $63M upfront, completed Solta Medical's Chinese aesthetics distribution purchase on December 1, 2025, and reported FY2025 revenue of $10.266B, up 7%, with net income attributable to Ba…

31. 2025Bristol-Myers Squibb

    BioNTech partnership, Orbital deal and $48.2B revenue

    BMS agreed in June 2025 to co-develop BioNTech's bispecific BNT327 and in October 2025 to buy Orbital Therapeutics for $1.5 billion. Full-year revenue was $48.2 billion with the Growth Portfolio up 17 percent.

32. 2026Bausch Health

    RED-C trials miss endpoints and trigger a $1.4 billion charge

    In January 2026 the two Phase 3 RED-C trials of amorphous-rifaximin soluble solid dispersion for primary prevention of hepatic encephalopathy missed their primary endpoints.

33. 2026Bausch Health

    Second-quarter 2026 revenue of $2.85 billion and raised guidance

    Bausch Health reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $2.85B, up 13%, net income attributable to Bausch Health of $258M and adjusted EBITDA of $1.075B, and raised its full-year 2026 revenue, adjusted EBITDA and cash flow guidance.

34. 2026Bristol-Myers Squibb

    Guidance raised and merger reports denied

    On July 30, 2026 BMS raised its 2026 revenue guidance to $49.0 to $50.0 billion after second-quarter revenue of $12.97 billion. In August, reports of AstraZeneca merger talks were followed by a senior source telling Reuters there were no discussions.

Acquisitions

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