424B3 1 f424b3_012704biotech.txt PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT - BIOTECH PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT Filed Pursuant to Rule No. 424(b)(3) (To Prospectus dated July 7, 2003) REGISTRATION NO. 333-89355 [BIOTECH HOLDRS LOGO] 1,000,000,000 Depositary Receipts Biotech HOLDRS (SM) Trust This prospectus supplement supplements information contained in the prospectus dated July 7, 2003 relating to the sale of up to 1,000,000,000 depositary receipts by the Biotech HOLDRS (SM) Trust. The share amounts specified in the table on page 13 of the base prospectus shall be replaced with the following:
Share Primary Name of Company(1) Ticker Amounts Trading Market ------------------------------------------------------ -------- --------- ---------------- Affymetrix, Inc. AFFX 4 NASDAQ Alkermes, Inc. ALKS 4 NASDAQ Amgen Inc. AMGN 64.48 NASDAQ Applera Corporation--Applied Biosystems Group* ABI 18 NYSE Applera Corporation--Celera Genomics Group* CRA 4 NYSE Biogen IDEC Inc.(1) BGEN 26.95 NASDAQ Chiron Corporation CHIR 16 NASDAQ Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ENZN 3 NASDAQ Genentech, Inc. DNA 44 NYSE Genzyme Corporation GENZ 14 NASDAQ Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILD 16 NASDAQ Human Genome Sciences, Inc. HGSI 8 NASDAQ ICOS Corporation ICOS 4 NASDAQ MedImmune, Inc. MEDI 15 NASDAQ Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. MLNM 12 NASDAQ QLT Inc. QLTI 5 NASDAQ Sepracor Inc. SEPR 6 NASDAQ Shire Pharmaceuticals Group p.l.c. SHPGY 6.8271 NASDAQ
_____________________ (1) Effective November 14, 2003, in connection with the merger of Biogen, Inc. and IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corp., two of the underlying securities included in Biotech HOLDRS, IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corp changed its name to Biogen IDEC Inc. As a result of the merger, for each share of Biogen, Inc. held, shareholders recieved 1.15 shares of Biogen IDEC Inc. As of the completion of the merger, 26.95 shares of Biogen IDEC Inc. are included in each round lot of 100 Biotech HOLDRS. * The securities of this company trade as a tracking stock. Please see "Risk Factors" and the business description in Annex A for additional information relating to an investment in tracking stock. The share amounts listed in the table above reflect all previous stock splits, dividends and business combination transactions. The date of this prospectus supplement is December 31, 2003.