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RATING RESEARCH ASSIGNS AAA REPUTATION RATINGS TO PFIZER, MERCK AND J&J

19 Leading Pharmaceutical Companies Rated in Second Annual Study

Bedminster, N.J. (6 June 2003) — Rating Research LLC (RRC), the leading reputation rating agency, announced today that pharmaceutical leaders Pfizer, Merck and J&J were assigned its highest quality AAA Reputation Rating in its second annual Reputation Strength Study of the industry that included 19 leading companies. Alcon, Allergen, Amgen and Forest Laboratories were newcomers to the RRC Reputation Strength Rating process.

The study reveals that both financial analysts and senior industry executives hold positive views of the winning trio across a broad range of reputational considerations. Pfizer, upgraded to a AAA from a AA last year, tied for first with J&J on the CEO Leadership dimension and with Merck on Competitiveness. Merck came in first on Ethical Behavior.

“In this year’s study, these three companies further consolidated their position as industry leaders,” said Dory Gasorek, RRC’s Rating Committee Chair. “At the same time, the industry landscape changed somewhat with companies such as Novartis and Eli Lilly strengthening their standing and moving into RRC’s “leaders” composite.”

However, the study reveals that even highly rated companies manifest discreet reputational factors they need to monitor or address, according to Ms. Gasorek. “For example,” she noted, “Amgen and Genentech, the two biotechnology companies included in the study, have solid overall ratings, but received below-average scores on Marketing Effectiveness, whereas Schering-Plough, Alcon and Abbott, among others companies, perform below-average on CEO Leadership”

RRC’s Reputation Strength Ratings are shorthand opinions, assigned on the basis of comprehensive quantitative data from primary research with industry executives and financial analysts, the industry expertise of Rating Committee members and other information streams. Interviews with analysts and executives, which took place in the first quarter of this year, resulted in over 1,000 company profiles.

Rated Newcomers Lag

Of the study’s newcomers in 2003, Amgen performed solidly, whereas Alcon, Allergan and Forest generally lagged behind their peers across reputation dimensions and in their final assigned ratings.”This partially reflects the smaller size and niche businesses of these companies as compared to their larger, well established competitors,” noted Ms. Gasorek. “Forest Laboratories, in particular, suffered from the lack of a clear reputation as opposed to a negative one.”

Some companies rated for the second year in a row showed improvement while others fell from grace, most notably Bristol-Myers Squibb was assigned a Reputation Strength Rating of BBB down from A in 2002. Bayer also was downgraded to A from a AA. AstraZeneca and Roche showed improvement in some areas, but still fall below average among the 19 companies.

RRC, a joint venture between The Ratrix Group and Opinion Research Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCI), assigns Reputation Ratings to leading companies and publishes those rating opinions as a public service.

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For more information on RRC’s Corporate Reputation Ratings contact Jane Barr.