reimbursement or access;

• Contingencies related to actual or alleged environmental contamination;

• Claims and concerns that may arise regarding the safety or efficacy of in-line products and product candidates;

• Significant breakdown, infiltration or interruption of our information technology systems and infrastructure;

• Legal defense costs, insurance expenses, settlement costs and the risk of an adverse decision or settlement related to product liability, patent protection, governmental investigations, ongoing efforts to explore various means for resolving asbestos litigation, and other legal proceedings;

• Ability to protect our patents and other intellectual property both domestically and internationally;

• Interest rate and foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations;

• Governmental laws and regulations affecting domestic and foreign operations, including tax obligations;

• Changes in generally accepted accounting principles;

• Any changes in business, political and economic conditions due to the threat of terrorist activity in the U.S. and other parts of the world, and related U.S. military action overseas;

• Growth in costs and expenses;

• Changes in our product, segment and geographic mix; and

• Impact of acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, product withdrawals and other unusual items, including our ability to realize the projected benefits of our cost-reduction initiatives.

We cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will be realized, although we believe we have been prudent in our plans and assumptions. Achievement of anticipated results is subject to substantial risks, uncertainties and inaccurate assumptions. Should known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove inaccurate, actual results could vary materially from past results and those anticipated, estimated or projected. Investors should bear this in mind as they consider forward-looking statements.

We undertake no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are advised, however, to consult any further disclosures we make on related subjects in our Forms 10-Q, 8-K and 10-K reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions are discussed here and under the heading entitled “Risk Factors and Cautionary Factors That May Affect Future Results” in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, which will be filed in February 2008. We note these factors for investors as permitted by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You should understand that it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors. Consequently, you should not consider any such list to be a complete set of all potential risks or uncertainties.

This report includes discussion of certain clinical studies relating to various in-line products and/or product candidates. These

studies typically are part of a larger body of clinical data relating to such products or product candidates, and the discussion herein should be considered in the context of the