Mead Johnson.

• Author: Hynes, Erin
• Position: Now Bristol-Meyers U.S. Pharmaceutical & Mead Johnson Worldwide Nutritional Group, manufactures of baby foods - Company profile

How will Evansville's pharmaceutical operation fare following the Bristol-Myers and Squibb merger?

In Evansville, an old division of an even older company is sporting a new name. As of Jan. 1, BristolMyers U.S. Pharmaceutical and Nutritional Group is now-take a breathBristol-Myers U.S. Pharmaceutical & Mead johnson Worldwide Nutritional Group.

The lengthy monicker is the most obvious change in the Evansville operations of BristolMyers since the New York-based pharmaceutical giant announced its merger with Squibb Corp. last July. That deal, based on the tax-free exchange of stock, created BristolMyers Squibb Company. It also created the second-largest pharmaceutical concern in the world, valued at $27 billion at the time of the merger announcement. Only Merck & Co., Inc., sells more pharmaceuticals.

Bristol-Myers came to Evansville in 1967 when it acquired Mead johnson & Company, best known for its Enfamil and ProSobee infant formulas and Visol line of vitamins. The Evansville operation was Bristol-Myers' largest in the United States, with 3,200 employees devoted to marketing, sales, manufacturing and research. As part of BristolMyers Squibb, the Evansville site's size is comparable to Squibb's headquarters in Princeton, N.J.

Edward Mead Johnson, Sr., a founder of Johnson & Johnson, moved Mead Johnson & Company to Evansville from New Jersey in 1915. Among the young pharmaceutical and nutritional company's most important products was Dextri-Maltose, one of the first commercial infant formulas. in 1933, Mead Johnson introduced Pablum, the only infant cereal on the market at the time. When it merged with BristolMyers in 1967, Mead Johnson & Company's biggest products were infant formulas and cereal, birth control pills and Metrecal diet foods.

There's been little news of how, other than the name change, the merger might affect the Evansville division. One tidbit came in November, when the company announced that it would consolidate all nutritional operations in Evansville. The consolidation, which includes the transfer of Squibb's small nutritional products group from New York, affects fewer than 50 employees, according to Rolland Eckels, director of public affairs for Bristol-Myers U.S. Pharmaceutical & Mead Johnson Worldwide Nutritional Group. Most of the transferees will be executives involved in international marketing of nutritional products.

Other than that, Eckels says, "We have no idea how the merger will affect Bristol-Myers in...