Laboratory Skin Care Sues Hand-Lotion Rival

Laboratory Skin Care Inc. is suing Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. over advertisements claiming that a Bristol-Myers product is the first hand lotion clinically proven to kill germs. Laboratory Skin Care maintains that its own germ-killing product has been on sale since 1995. The suit filed U.S. District Court in San Francisco maintains that Bristol-Myers’ Keri Anti-Bacterial Hand Lotion contains Triclosan, an agent developed and patented by Laboratory Skin Care. The suit contends that Bristol-Myers failed to stop running the “first” advertisements after promising to do so. Bristol-Myers reportedly expects to sell $90 million worth of the hand lotion by 2000.