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Schering-Plough

 
Hoover's Profile: Schering-Plough Corporation
 
(NYSE:SGP)
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Schering-Plough Corporation
2000 Galloping Hill Rd.
Kenilworth, NJ 07033-0530
NJ Tel. 908-298-4000
Fax 908-298-7653

Type: Public
On the web: http://www.schering-plough.com
Employees: 51,000
Employee growth: (7.3%)

Schering-Plough can get rid of the most embarrassing ailments -- runny noses, sunburned shoulders, and fungal feet. The pharmaceuticals giant makes prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, animal health products, and personal care products. Although it is best known for allergy medications Clarinex and Nasonex, the firm also specializes in anti-inflammatory, infectious disease, cancer, cardiovascular, and women's health drugs. Schering-Plough's OTC offerings include Claritin allergy pills, Afrin nasal sprays, Dr. Scholl's foot care products, and sun care line Coppertone. Its products are marketed in some 140 countries. The company has agreed to be acquired by Merck.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending December, 2008:
Sales: $18,502.0M
One year growth: 45.8%
Net income: $1,903.0M

Officers:
Chairman and CEO: Fred Hassan
EVP and CFO: Robert J. Bertolini
VP and CIO: Karl D. Salnoske

Competitors:
Abbott Labs
Bayer AG
Pfizer

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Company History: Schering-Plough Corporation
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Incorporated: 1971
NAIC: 325412 Pharmaceutical Preparation Manufacturing; 325620 Toilet Preparation Manufacturing; 339113 Surgical Appliance and Supplies Manufacturing; 541710 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences

Schering-Plough Corporation is a major U.S.-based manufacturer of pharmaceuticals. The company's leading prescription drug is the allergy medication Claritin, with 2001 sales of $3.2 billion. Other allergy and respiratory treatments include Clarinex, the firm's next-generation allergy treatment, and Nasonex, a nasal spray for allergies with 2001 sales of $524 million. In the area of anti-infective and anticancer products, Schering-Plough makes Intron A, a treatment for hepatitis C with 2001 sales of $1.4 billion; PEG-Intron, a longer-acting form of Intron A; Temodar, used to treat malignant brain cancer; and Remicade, a treatment for Crohn's disease. Schering-Plough also makes drugs to treat cardiovascular, dermatological, and central nervous system disorders. Overall, pharmaceuticals account for about 85 percent of company sales. Generating about 7 percent of sales are the company's animal health products, which include Nuflor, an antibiotic used to treat bovine respiratory disease. The remaining revenue comes from the sale of consumer products, including Dr. Scholl's foot-care products, Afrin nasal sprays, and Bain de Soleil and Coppertone sun-care products. On the research side, Schering-Plough is involved in a number of collaborative ventures investigating new drug treatments. Chief among these are partnerships with Merck & Co., Inc. formed in 2000 to develop cholesterol-management and allergy/asthma medications.

Schering-Plough Corporation was formed in 1971 through the merger of Schering Corporation and Plough, Inc., each with their own long and colorful histories. Schering began in the late 19th century as the U.S. subsidiary of Schering AG, a drug and chemical manufacturer founded in Berlin by Ernst Schering in 1864. In 1894, the company started to export diphtheria medication to the United States, and in 1928 Schering Corporation was incorporated in New York. Until the end of World War II, a sex hormone accounted for up to 75 percent of Schering's sales.

In 1935, on the eve of World War II, the U.S. government took over the assets of Schering Corporation because of its German ownership, thereby changing the course of the company's history. Frank Brown, a New Deal lawyer with no previous experience in the pharmaceutical business, was dealt a hand that would bind his future to Schering. Brown's legal career involved participating in government projects during the 1930s. He joined the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), a creation of Roosevelt's New Deal policies, and acted as legal counsel to Leo Crowley. Crowley was appointed the Alien Property Custodian, and Brown was given the job of managing Schering. He immediately filled vacated executive positions with associates from the FDIC. In 1943, Brown was formally appointed president of Schering, and under his direction the company soon proved a financial success.

Brown realized that research and development was the key to success in the pharmaceutical industry. To this end, Brown immediately began the development of a research department and, like many other pharmaceutical companies, conducted searches for those scientists and students on the verge of new discoveries or for noteworthy scientific contributions from medical colleges and universities across the country. Established in 1944, the Schering student competition fund has found many worthy recipients over the years.

Because the postwar years marked a reduced demand for sex hormones, the newly expanded research department could not have found a better moment to discover a new antihistamine. Marketed as a proprietary drug (a drug directly advertised to consumers) under the name Trimeton and marketed also as an ethical drug (a drug advertised to healthcare professionals) under the name Chlor-Trimeton, the antihistamine marked a turning point in the history of the Schering Corporation. By 1951, profits had quadrupled with sales reaching over $15 million.

That same year the U.S. attorney general put the company up for sale. A syndicate headed by Merrill Lynch outbid other prospective buyers, purchasing the company in 1952 and then proceeding to take it public that same year through the sale of $1.7 million of stock. The investors, however, asked Brown to remain on as company president. He accepted the offer and directed Schering to even greater profitability through the discovery of Meticorten and Meticortelone, two new corticosteroids that became the envy of the drug industry.

The discovery of synthetic cortisone dated back to 1949 when Merck & Co., an industry competitor, first made public its historic findings. Although the wonder drug's discovery rightfully belonged to Merck, the process for synthesizing the drug conflicted with several other patents for producing sex hormones. Schering was the owner of one of these patents, and through a "cross-licensing" agreement the company gained access to information about cortisone production.

Soon after production of cortisone began, Schering and its competitors raced to discover an improved line of the drug that would eliminate some of the side effects associated with the steroid. They all hoped to modify the cortisone molecule to find a more effective drug and, at the same time, eliminate hypertension, edema (water retention), and osteoporosis (a bone disease), all side effects connected with cortisone therapy. Using microorganisms to convert one chemical into another, Schering scientists discovered a drug in 1954 that fit the desired guidelines. Clinical testing of the drug brought excellent results. When Schering was confronted with the prospect of full-scale production, however, the company realized it had no previous experience in manufacturing by fermentation, the process used to make the new drug. So Schering first tried fermentation in a 150-gallon stainless steel container and later in a 1,000-gallon and finally a 22,000-gallon fermenter. This last container used $100,000 worth of cortisone and a few hundred gallons of microorganisms.

Having established a successful manufacturing technique, Schering released Meticorten in 1955 and Meticortelone soon afterwards. Almost unbelievably, sales for the drugs jumped to over $20 million by the end of the year, $1 million more than total sales in 1954. By the end of 1955 sales for these drugs reached a new high of almost $46 million and by 1957 exceeded $80 million.

Other pharmaceutical companies manufacturing steroids immediately attempted to profit from Schering's success. Lederle, Upjohn, and Merck all developed similar drugs, and soon Schering found itself embroiled in lawsuits over patent and licensing rights. Merck's product arrived on the market only three months after Schering's, but because Schering had spent heavily on advertising it managed to retain a major share of the market. Furthermore, while Schering was forced to arrange licensing agreements with other companies, Brown demanded what other companies regarded as overpriced royalty payments. Although this initiated new litigation, it also allowed Schering profits to remain at an all-time high while agreements were worked out in time-consuming court processes.

In 1957, Schering acquired White Laboratories. During the mid-1960s the company completed a series of important introductions. In 1965, the company debuted Tinactin, an antifungal cream. The following year came the debut of Garamycin, an antibiotic used as a treatment for urinary tract infections and burn victims. This soon became the company's leading product. Schering introduced Afrin, a decongestant, in 1967.

Unrelated to Schering's historical development, a consumer product company in Memphis, Tennessee, won recognition for its own success story. Abe Plough, founder of Plough, Inc., began his career in marketing in 1908. He borrowed $125 from his father to create a concoction of linseed oil, carbolic acid, and camphor and sold the potion door-to-door from a horse-drawn buggy as a cure for "any ill of man or beast." Plough's inventory expanded to include a mysteriously named C-2223. This relief for rheumatics became an immediate success; after four years Plough had sold 150,000 packages.

What Plough later claimed to be his shrewdest purchase occurred in 1915 when he paid $900 for the inventory of a bankrupt drug company. He netted a profit of $34,000 peddling the stock in the back woods where there was still a large demand for oxidine chill tonic. In 1920, he bought the St. Joseph Company of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and began manufacturing children's aspirin. By the 1950s, Plough realized that the huge sales figures for the popular aspirin was partially due to children taking overdoses of the product. To prevent this from reoccurring Plough ordered childproof caps added to the aspirin at a time when safety regulations were almost nonexistent. He went on to purchase 27 other companies during the course of his lifetime. In addition to being talented at making important acquisitions, he was also very adept at marketing: 25 percent of all income from sales was routinely spent on advertising. The success of radio advertising, in particular, convinced Plough to buy five AM and FM stations (which were later sold). Plough was best known in his own community for his philanthropic contributions. Upon his death in 1984 at age 92, flags throughout Memphis were lowered to half-mast.

Years before his death, however, the unlikely friendship between German-born Willibald Hermann Cozen, chief executive officer of Schering Corporation, and Plough was the antecedent to a company merger. At 17, after graduating from Kaiserin Augusta Gymnasium in Koblenz, Cozen began working for Schering AG, the German parent company. When the U.S. subsidiary of Schering AG was seized by the U.S. government in the 1930s and eventually sold to the public, Cozen became the chief executive officer of the new independent company.

Although the 80-year-old Plough had initiated the merger because he was looking for a successor to run his firm, it was Cozen who actually designed the merger and, as a result, became the chief executive officer of Schering-Plough; Plough served as chairman of the new company until 1976. The merger, which was completed in 1971, combined the comprehensive manufacturing of Schering's antibiotics, antihistamines, and other pharmaceuticals, and Plough's household consumer products with names as common as Coppertone, Di-Gel, and Maybelline cosmetics.

When the merger of the two companies was finally completed, combined sales reached $500 million in 1971. This marked the fastest sales growth for any merger in the industry. Yet despite an earnings multiple of 46, Cozen, in his typically reserved style, spoke guardedly of continued expansion. The sales for Garamycin reached $90 million by 1972. This income accounted for almost half of both companies' growth for the period. The large profits, however, ironically concealed an "Achilles' heel." Garamycin's patent, scheduled to expire in 1980, signified the beginning of generic competition and the end of Schering-Plough's control over the manufacturing of this drug. The sound of competitors' footsteps could be heard following closely behind; Cozen's cautious remarks on continued expansion were well founded.

In 1974, reduced sales for Garamycin already affected company profit margins. In 1975, the return on equity dropped from 31 to 27 percent and the stock dropped 10 percent from the previous year. Schering-Plough endured the ensuing decline in profits and increased funding for research and development. In 1974, several newly released drugs accounted for $100 million in sales. The following year Schering-Plough introduced Lotrimin AF, an antifungal product, and Vanceril, an antiasthma medicine, debuted in 1976. Similarly, Maybelline introduced a new line of makeup in 1974. The "Fresh and Lovely" cosmetic product line promised to catapult Maybelline into a competitive full-line makeup company.

These moves, however, were not remedies for the ailing profit margin. In 1979, Richard J. Bennet took over as chief executive officer and continued the efforts to solve the Garamycin conundrum. Schering-Plough had historically been a conservative company with no major debts, maintaining an asset-to-liability ratio of 2.2 to 1 and a $350 million cash excess after seven acquisitions. Yet Schering-Plough continued to look like a "one-product" company because of its heavy reliance on Garamycin sales.

In 1979, 40 percent of all profits, or $220 million, was generated solely from Garamycin. Cozen's ineffective attempt to establish company profitability on the sales of a variety of drugs rather than a single product became Bennet's new challenge. Under his management the company released Netromycin, an antibiotic more potent that Garamycin but with fewer side effects. To ensure continued sales of Garamycin when the patent expiration date arrived, the company announced a discount plan to entice former customers into future contracts. Meanwhile, large sums of money continued to pour into the research facilities in the hope of discovering new drugs. Finally, in order to bolster consumer product sales, Schering-Plough purchased Scholl, Inc., the well-established maker of Dr. Scholl's foot-care products, for $30 million. Also acquired that year were the animal health business of Burns-Biotec and Kirby Pharmaceuticals Ltd. The company entered a new sector in 1980 with the acquisition of Wesley-Jensen Inc., maker of vision care products and contact lenses.

Unfortunately, these maneuvers had only a limited effect on the company. Because doctors had already perfected methods for controlling Garamycin's side effects, they actually preferred to wait for generic and therefore cheaper versions of the drug rather than switch to Netromycin. Similarly, despite $75 million a year spent on research and development, no new discoveries were announced. Furthermore, while Scholl, Inc., had yearly revenues of $250 million and earnings of $12 million, its profits had barely kept pace with inflation since 1973.

Next to all of these disappointments, however, one consumer product did exhibit strong signs of financial success. Maybelline, once known as a manufacturer of "me-too" or imitation products, matured into an aggressive full-line cosmetic company. Bennet claimed in 1980 that Maybelline held 34 percent of the mascara market and 24 percent of the eyeshadow market. Estimated sales for 1980 jumped to $150 million from $75 million in 1976. But after Robert P. Luciano was appointed CEO in 1982, he refocused the company on health care, and Maybelline cosmetics and a household products group were eventually sold.

On May 28, 1980, the day the patent on Garamycin expired, Schering-Plough executives appeared unperturbed. In fact, stock on that day jumped from $39 to $45 a share. Not only was Netromycin on the market, but 80 percent of the hospitals who were previous customers of Garamycin had signed up for the deferred discount plan. More importantly, however, Schering-Plough had paid $12 million for a 14 percent equity stake in a Swiss genetic engineering company called Biogen. Schering-Plough's interest in the company was significant because it provided them with worldwide rights to the synthesis of human leukocyte interferons using recombinant DNA. The possibilities for using interferon, a chemical produced naturally in the body to fight viruses, were immense. It was hoped that the synthetic drug could be used to treat anything from cancer to the common cold. Moreover, gene-splicing promised to be highly cost-effective; this new method, on the cutting-edge of biotechnology, could produce the same amount of purer proteins in a week than old methods could in a year. Here was the long-awaited breakthrough.

By 1985, in an uncharacteristic move, Schering-Plough had made a more expensive investment in biotechnology than any of its competitors. Expenditures surpassed $100 million. In 1982, Schering-Plough, having reached an agreement to spend $31.5 million over ten years, formed a partnership with West Berlin politicians to establish a research institute on genetic engineering in Berlin. At the same time, plans were announced to build a fermentation and purification plant in Ireland to market the first commercial interferon. Schering-Plough also purchased another biotech firm in Palo Alto, California, called DNAX Research Institute.

Although Schering-Plough was the first to market a commercial Interferon, patent problems with competitors gave Hoffmann-La Roche rights to market alpha interferons in the United States. On June 4, 1986, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Schering-Plough's Intron A and Hoffmann-La Roche's Rofeon-A for the U.S. market. Projected market sales for the interferon were $200 million in the United States and $150 million in Europe. By 1994, Intron A had sales of $426 million. With continued expansion in the United States and other international markets, Intron soon grew to be the market leader worldwide. The company continued its study in the field of biotechnology, spending about one-quarter of its research dollars in this area.

In the meantime, Schering-Plough completed additional acquisitions in the late 1980s. In 1986, Key Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a maker of allergy, asthma, and cardiovascular drugs, was acquired. Two years later, Schering-Plough acquired the Cooper Companies' U.S. contact lens solutions business as well as the rights to sell Aquaflex contact lenses in the United States and Japan. Then in 1989 the German animal health business of Byk Gulden was purchased.

In the 1990s, Schering-Plough's largest and fastest-growing therapeutic category was in the area of asthma and allergy. Led by new product introductions, worldwide sales rose 24 percent in 1994 to approximately $1.46 billion. The most successful of these new drugs was Claritin (loratadine), a once-a-day, nonsedating antihistamine. Introduced in April 1993, Claritin was the third nonsedating antihistamine to reach the U.S. market. Despite its late arrival, in its first year on the market, Claritin had sales of nearly $200 million. It then captured the number one position in new prescriptions for plain antihistamines in less than a year and a half on the U.S. market, making it the largest single product for the company. Along with the November 1994 U.S. marketing clearance of Claritin-D, a twice-daily formulation combining the decongestant pseudoephedrine, the company expected to capture a significant share of the antihistamine/decongestant market.

Also in the 1990s, a fear of skin cancer and a depleting ozone layer turned sun care from a cosmetic segment to a healthcare one. With the introduction of Coppertone Kids and Shade UVAGuard, Schering-Plough proved to be a leader in the sun-care market. It heavily promoted Shade UVAGuard, the sunscreen positioned as a drug that protected against year-round UVA and UVB rays, both of which cause skin cancer. Schering was also one of the first companies to market sunless tanning and sport products. The year 1994 marked the 50th anniversary of the Coppertone brand, and, during that year, the company helped launch a national UV (ultraviolet) Index in a joint pilot program with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Weather Service to help educate consumers about the importance of proper sun protection. With its broad product lines, Schering-Plough captured major shares in important segments of the entire sun care market, and, in the fast-growing children's market, the company had a 60 percent share with its Coppertone Kids and Water Babies products.

An aging population, the popularity of self-medication, and active lifestyles were other trends that helped boost sales in Schering-Plough's foot-care division and build its position as North America's leading foot-care company. Schering-Plough's brands led in every segment of the market and, according to Drug Topics in 1995, Dr. Scholl's had a 72 percent share of the insole/insert category, an 86 percent share of the corn/callus/bunion category, and a 46 percent share of the odor/wetness/grooming category. The company, however, met increased competition from in-store and private-label brands during this time.

Continuing to concentrate more of its attention on pharmaceutical products, Schering-Plough sold off its contact lens business to Bain Capital, Inc. in 1995 for $47.5 million. At the beginning of 1996, Richard J. Kogan succeeded Luciano as CEO. Luciano remained chairman until November 1998, when Kogan took on that position as well. Kogan had served as president and COO since 1986. Also in 1996, Schering-Plough acquired San Diego-based Canji, Inc., a gene therapy firm, for $54.5 million in stock. The following year the company substantially bolstered its animal health unit with the acquisition of the animal health division of Mallinckrodt Inc. for $405 million. Schering-Plough gained Mallinckrodt's lines of antiparasitic drugs and growth-enhancing products for cattle along with that firm's more extensive global distribution network. The newly enlarged animal health unit had annual revenues of about $650 million. In another extension of one of the company's nonpharmaceutical lines, Schering-Plough purchased from Pfizer Inc. the rights to sell Bain de Soleil sun-care products in the United States, Puerto Rico, and certain other markets.

On the pharmaceutical side, Schering-Plough in 1997 introduced Nasonex, a once-daily nasal spray for allergies that by 2000 achieved sales of $415 million. In 1998, the FDA approved a new drug regimen called Rebetron for the treatment of Hepatitis C. Rebetron was developed in partnership with ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and was a combination of Schering-Plough's Intron A and ICN's Ribavirin. The company also purchased the marketing rights to several drugs in 1998, including Remicade, which had been developed by Centocor, Inc. for the treatment of Crohn's disease. During 1999, the FDA granted approval to Schering-Plough's Temodar for treating two serious types of malignant brain cancer.

With the possible exception of Intron A, which through its various uses was generating $1.4 billion in annual revenues by 2000, none of these new products came close to approaching the blockbuster sales of the Claritin family of products. Worldwide sales of Claritin reached $3 billion in 2000, representing 36 percent of Schering-Plough's pharmaceutical revenues and nearly 31 percent of overall revenues. Part of the reason for the huge sales was the aggressive marketing campaign that had been mounted for the drug, a campaign that took full advantage of the loosening of FDA regulations relating to the advertising of prescription drugs. Claritin, in fact, was the most heavily advertised prescription drug in the United States in the late 1990s. Schering-Plough spent $322 million pitching Claritin to consumers in 1998 and 1999.

With Claritin generating so great a percentage of Schering-Plough's revenues and with the main patent on Claritin set to expire at the end of 2002, the company was faced with a near repeat of the situation it had faced in the late 1970s when the expiration of the patent on Garamycin was approaching. Schering-Plough took a multifaceted approach to the looming prospect of cheap generic competition to its by far top-selling drug. In May 2000, the company entered into a partnership with Merck to develop two new drug combinations. One would combine Claritin with Merck's asthma drug Singulair in the hope of creating a highly effective asthma and allergy medication. Because Singulair's patent was slated to last until 2010, the patent for the combined drug would extend to that year as well. Likewise, the two companies also began investigating a combination of Merck's cholesterol-reducing Zocor with ezetimibe (brand name Zetia), an experimental compound developed by Schering-Plough that interferes with the body's ability to absorb dietary cholesterol. Merck was facing the expiration of Zocor's patent in 2005, but ezetimibe's patent would not expire until 2015.

Schering-Plough also launched an intense lobbying campaign to get the U.S. Congress to extend Claritin's patent. The company argued that because the FDA approval process for Claritin had been so lengthy--lasting nearly six and a half years--the patent on the drug should be extended. These lobbying efforts failed. At the same time, Schering-Plough was attempting to get FDA approval for its next-generation allergy medication, desloratadine, which was to be marketed under the brand name Clarinex. This drug was closely related chemically to Claritin, and among scientists there was some debate about whether there was a marked difference between the two drugs. In any case, Schering-Plough was relying on getting Clarinex approved quickly enough so that it had adequate time to switch patients from Claritin to the new drug before the Claritin generics began flooding the market.

Unfortunately, Schering-Plough was beset by difficulties at its drug manufacturing plants in New Jersey and Puerto Rico, and these troubles delayed the approval of Clarinex. In late 1999 and 2000, the company was forced to recall 59 million asthma inhalers after finding that some of the devices, which were potentially life-saving, contained little or none of the active ingredient. After the facilities failed further inspections, the FDA in February 2001 told the company that Clarinex would not be approved until the manufacturing problems were resolved. Following the uncovering of additional problems at the plants in June 2001, the company's president, Raul E. Cesan, who had been in charge of the manufacturing operations since 1994, was forced to resign. In a further blow, the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen in August 2001 called for a criminal investigation of the company, alleging that 17 deaths were associated with the use of faulty Schering-Plough asthma inhalers. Class-action lawsuits were soon filed related to the defective products and to allegations that the company had failed to alert shareholders to these problems (the company's stock fell substantially during this period).

In April 2001, meantime, Schering-Plough was hit with another lawsuit, this one brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against the company and two generic drugmakers. In this antitrust suit, the FTC alleged that patent settlements involving Schering-Plough's K-Dur potassium chloride supplement included illegal payments that were made to delay the introduction of generic versions of the drug. The company also faced criticism for its marketing of Rebetron, in which the two-drug combination was sold for about $18,000 for the full year of treatment that was needed. Some patients wanted to take one of the drugs in combination with a drug produced by another company, but Schering-Plough refused to unbundle the drugs, contending that for safety reasons the drugs should only be taken together.

To solve its manufacturing problems, Schering-Plough spent $60 million on plant improvements and the hiring of 500 new employees, many of whom worked in quality control. Finally, in December 2001, the FDA granted approval to Clarinex but at the price of a fine of as much as $500 million for the protracted manufacturing problems at Schering-Plough plants. The company immediately began selling the new drug, but it now had only one year to work at switching patients from Claritin to Clarinex. Further complicating the situation was a petition to the FDA from WellPoint Health Networks Inc. of Thousand Oaks, California, which wanted Claritin and two other popular allergy medications, Allegra and Zyrtec, switched to over-the-counter (OTC) status, a move that would save money for WellPoint and other insurers while costing drugmakers and consumers with prescription drug coverage. After this petition won preliminary FDA approval in 2001, divisions of Johnson & Johnson and American Home Products Corporation filed registrations with the FDA for OTC versions of Claritin. This led Schering-Plough in February 2002 to file separate lawsuits against the two companies to block the OTC versions. At the same time, Schering-Plough was also involved in lawsuits with about 18 companies over generic versions of Claritin. Even if these suits proved unsuccessful, they were likely to delay the introduction of generic and OTC versions of Claritin, thereby buying Schering-Plough some more time.

Schering-Plough clearly faced an uncertain future. The success of Clarinex was by no means assured, and the only other new drug approved in 2001 was PEG-Intron, which was a longer-lasting form of Intron A and which was also used in the treatment of hepatitis C. In late stage development were Zetia, the cholesterol medication being developed with Merck; Asmanex, a next-generation asthma inhaler; and Noxafil (posaconazole), an antifungal designed for patients with HIV or cancer whose immune systems are compromised. None of these were likely to be the blockbuster needed to succeed Claritin, and this left Schering-Plough vulnerable to a takeover, with Merck being a prime candidate given the two companies' status as drug development partners.

Principal Subsidiaries

The Bain de Soleil Company; Canji, Inc.; The Coppertone Corporation; DNAX Research Institute of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Inc.; Dr. Scholl's Foot Comfort Shops, Inc.; Key Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Schering Corporation; Schering-Plough Products, Inc.; Schering-Plough Veterinary Corporation; Warrick Pharmaceuticals Corporation; White Laboratories, Inc.; Schering-Plough Compania Limitada (Chile); Schering-Plough S.A. (France); Schering-Plough Sante Animale (France); Schering-Plough Veterinaire (France); Schering-Plough S.p.A. (Italy); Schering-Plough S.A de C.V. (Mexico); Schering-Plough Farma Lda. (Portugal); Schering-Plough S.A. (Spain); Schering-Plough Holdings Ltd. (U.K.); Schering-Plough Limited (U.K.); Schering-Plough C.A. (Venezuela).

Principal Operating Units

Schering-Plough International; Schering-Plough HealthCare Products; Schering-Plough Animal Health; Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals; Schering-Plough Research Institute; Schering Laboratories.

Principal Competitors

Merck & Co., Inc.; Pfizer Inc.; GlaxoSmithKline plc; Bayer AG; Novartis AG; Aventis; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; Roche Group; Abbott Laboratories; AstraZeneca PLC; American Home Products Corporation.

Further Reading

Babcock, Charles R., "Patent Fight Tests Drug Firm's Clout: Claritin Maker Goes All Out in Congress," Washington Post, October 30, 1999, p. A1.

Bailey, Maureen, "Feeling No Pain?: Schering-Plough Suffers Loss of Market Share in Key Drug," Barron's, September 22, 1980, p. 11.

Baldo, Anthony, "Unlucky Luciano," Financial World, August 6, 1991, pp. 28+.

Bronson, Gail, "Devour Thy Tail," Forbes, November 2, 1987, p. 85.

Fischl, Jennifer, "Schering-Plough: Just Say No," Financial World, April 15, 1997, pp. 24, 26.

Freudenheim, Milt, "U.S. Decision on New Drug Lifts Schering," New York Times, December 25, 2001, p. C1.

Gerena-Morales, Rafael, "Schering-Plough Can Sell Hepatitis C Drug Regimen," Northern New Jersey Record, June 5, 1998, p. A3.

Goetzl, David, "How to Follow a Blockbuster?," Advertising Age, November 19, 2001, pp. 4, 38.

Hall, Stephen S., "Prescription for Profit," New York Times Magazine, March 11, 2001, pp. 60+.

Harris, Gardiner, "Drug Makers Pair Up to Fight Key Patent Losses," Wall Street Journal, May 24, 2000, p. B1.

------, "Foul-Ups by Asthma-Drug Maker Draw FDA Fire," Wall Street Journal, January 28, 2000, p. B1.

------, "Schering Fines Could Total $500 Million," Wall Street Journal, December 24, 2001, p. A3.

Hunter, Kris, "Staff Cutbacks Begin at Schering-Plough," Memphis Business Journal, October 17, 1994, pp. 1+.

Jarvis, Lisa, "Manufacturing Problems Cast Pall on Schering-Plough Earnings," Chemical Market Reporter, July 9, 2001, p. 8.

Kogan, Richard J., "With Change Comes Opportunity," Chemical Week, April 26, 1995, p. 48.

Krause, Carey, "Schering-Plough Becomes Vulnerable to Takeover," Chemical Market Reporter, February 18, 2002, p. 10.

Langreth, Robert, "Gene Therapy Is Dealt Setback by the FDA of Gene Drug," Wall Street Journal, October 11, 1999, p. B1.

------, "Schering-Plough Corp. to Acquire Mallinckrodt Animal-Health Unit," Wall Street Journal, May 20, 1997, p. B6.

Lueck, Sarah, "FDA Considers Unusual Bid to End Allergy Drugs' Prescription Status," Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2001, p. B1.

Marcial, Gene G., "Analysts See Schering-Plough on Rough Road As Drug Patent Lapses, Rival Product Gains," Wall Street Journal, June 2, 1980.

Nayyar, Seema, "Coppertone Adapts to a Changing World," Brandweek, February 22, 1993, p. 28.

Novak, Viveca, "How One Firm Played the Patent Game," Time, November 22, 1999, p. 42.

Palmer, Jay, "Say Yes to Drugs? How Schering-Plough Aims to Survive Hillary Clinton," Barron's, October 4, 1993, p. 14.

Petersen, Melody, "At Schering, Optimism and Problems," New York Times, January 15, 2002, p. C1.

------, "Factory Problems Unresolved, Schering-Plough President Is Out," New York Times, June 28, 2001, p. C4.

------, "Group Faults Drug Inhalers in Ten Deaths," New York Times, August 10, 2001, p. C1.

Power, Christopher, "Schering May Have a Cure for Anemic Profits," Business Week, September 15, 1986, pp. 118+.

"Schering, Plough Agree to Merger Put at $1.5 Billion," Wall Street Journal, June 24, 1970.

"Schering-Plough Banking on R&D," Chemical Marketing Reporter, July 11, 1994, pp. 7+.

Shaffer, Marjorie, "Schering-Plough: Against the Tide," Financial World, June 22, 1993, pp. 16+.

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— Updates: Beth Watson Highman, David E. Salamie


 
Wikipedia: Schering-Plough
Top
Schering-Plough Corporation
Type Public (NYSESGP)
Founded 1971 (by merger with Plough, Inc.)
Headquarters Kenilworth, New Jersey
Key people Fred Hassan, CEO & Chairman
Industry Pharmaceuticals
Products Remicade, Levitra, Zetia, Vytorin, Nasonex, Asmanex , Claritin, Aerius, Afrin, Nuvaring, Home Again Pet Recovery System, Banamine, Clarinex, Dr Scholl's, Coppertone, Famvir
Revenue US$ 18.502 billion (2008)
Net income US$ 1.903 billion (2008)
Employees 50,000
Website http://www.schering-plough.com/

Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSESGP) is a pharmaceutical company founded in 1851 by Ernst Schering as Schering AG in Germany. In 1971, the Schering Corporation merged with Plough (founded by Memphis area entrepreneur Abe Plough in 1908 [1]) to form Schering Plough.

Schering Plough manufactures several pharmaceutical drugs, the most well-known of which are the allergy drugs Claritin and Clarinex, and through a collaboration with Merck & Co., Vytorin, an anti-cholesterol drug.

Schering Plough also owns and operates the major foot care brand name Dr. Scholl's and the skin care line Coppertone.

As of June 2005, Schering-Plough had 1.4% market share in the U.S., placing it seventeenth in the top twenty pharmaceutical corporations by sales compiled by IMS Health.

Schering-Plough is a full member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).[2]

Contents

History

Schering was founded in 1851 by Ernst Schering as Schering AG in Germany.

Following the entry of the United States into World War II in 1941, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered Schering AG's U.S. assets be seized. These became the Schering Corporation. The company was placed under a government administratorship until 1952, when it was released and its assets sold to the private sector.

Plough, Incorporated was founded by the Memphis, Tennessee area entrepreneur Abe Plough in 1908 [2]. He borrowed $125 from his father to start the business at age sixteen. As a one man business, he mixed "Plough's Antiseptic Healing Oil," a "sure cure for any ill of man or beast," and sold it off a horse-drawn buggy.[1] He grew the company through sound management and innovative strategies, with marketing genius.[citation needed]

Plough's acquisitions included St Joseph's Aspirin for children,[1] Maybelline cosmetics, and Coppertone skin care products. Plough also had a broadcasting division, operating radio stations in Atlanta, Georgia; Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; and Memphis, Tennessee.

In 1971, the Schering Corporation merged with Plough, Inc. At the time of the merger, Abe Plough became Chairman of the combined company.[3]

In 2000, Schering Plough bought a new campus in Summit, New Jersey from Novartis. The company planned to make this location its second-largest corporate complex in the world after completion of its current $20 million renovation.

Schering-Plough was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 and 2005 by Working Mothers magazine.

One of Schering-Plough's plants, in Upper Hutt, New Zealand is the largest single site for the production of veterinary vaccines in the world.[citation needed] This is largely due to the fact that New Zealand's isolation has formed a natural quarantine, leaving the country free of rabies, foot and mouth, scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and many other livestock diseases. It formerly had echinococcosis, but this has been eradicated. The site is known locally as "Coopers Animal Health," a trademark still in use by Schering-Plough in Australia, but not elsewhere.

In March 2007, Schering-Plough Corp. purchased Organon International, the drug unit of Netherlands-based Akzo Nobel, for $14.4 billion, giving the US pharmaceutical company an array of women's health products and numerous late-stage pipelines of experimental medicines.

Organon was founded in 1923 by Dr. Saal van Zwanenberg, the president of Zwanenberg’s Slachterijen en Fabrieken. The company is housed at Zwanenberg’s premises in Oss, the Netherlands. By August 21,2008, Famvir (famciclovir) was marketed as Schering-Plough; formerly it was marketed by Novartis.

As a result of the acquisition of Organon, Schering-Plough bolstered its animal health business with the Akzo subsidiary Intervet and gained access to human vaccine production through the subsidiary Nobilon.

On March 9, 2009 it was announced that Schering-Plough was to merge with Merck & Co. and through a reverse merger have Merck be a subsidiary of Schering-Plough, which will rename itself Merck.[4]

Medical products

Prescription products

Over-the-counter products

Veterinary products

  • Home Again Pet Recovery System - HomeAgain is an advanced pet identification and retrieval system.
  • Zubrin - A non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) for the treatment of osteoarthritis in dogs.
  • Mometamax - Is indicated for the treatment of canine acute externa and chronic otitis externa associated with yeast (Malassezia pachydermatis, formerly Pityrosporum canis)and/or bacteria susceptible to gentamicin. It contains the strongest steroid (Mometasone Furoate) in Veterinary Medicine.
  • Eclipse Vaccines - Attenuated modified live feline vaccines available in a multitude of antigen combinations.
  • Galaxy Vaccines - Canine vaccines available in a multitude of antigen combinations.
  • Optimmune - Ophthalmic ointment (cyclosporin) for the treatment of Pannis and Keratoconjunctivitis sicca in dogs.
  • Orbax - Trade name for orbifloxacin, a fluoroquinolone.
  • Otomax - Is indicated for the treatment of canine acute otitis externa and chronic otitis externa associated with yeast (Malassezia pachydermatis, formerly Pityrosporum canis)and/or bacteria susceptible to gentamicin. It contains betamethasone valerate as an anti-inflammatory.
  • Banamine - A non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used in horses, cattle and swine in different parts of the world.
  • Estrumate - A synthetic prostaglandin used in reproduction of cattle.
  • Trivetrin - Trimethoprin sulfate for the treatment of cattle and swine.
  • Nuflor

Exercise drug

Schering-Plough has received recent publicity for a new drug AICAR which mimics the effects of exercise, having especially potent effects when used alongside another drug GW1516 developed by GlaxoSmithKline.

Collaborative research

In addition to internal research and development activities Schering-Plough is also involved in publicly funded collaborative research projects, with other industrial and academic partners. One example in the area of non-clinical safety assessment is the InnoMed PredTox.[6][7]

Controversy

In 2004, Schering-Plough was accused of marketing gimmicks and payoffs to doctors for prescribing the company's pharmaceutical products.[8]

Schering-Plough entered into a Consent Decree with the FDA on March 6, 2002 due to manufacturing issues with its albuterol inhaler. It was ordered to pay $500 Million USD as follows; Schering-Plough Corporation agrees to pay one hundred seventy-five million dollars ($175,000,000.00) to the United States Treasury no later than ten (10) days after the date of entry of this Decree. Schering-Plough Products, LLC agrees to pay seventy-five million dollars ($75,000,000.00) to the United States Treasury no later than ten (10) days after the date of entry of this Decree. With respect to the remaining two hundred and fifty million dollars ($250,000,000.00), one hundred seventy-five million dollars ($175,000,000.00) shall be paid by Schering-Plough Corporation and seventy-five million dollars ($75,000,000.00) shall be paid by Schering-Plough Products, LLC, to the United States Treasury no later than three hundred sixty-five (365) days after the date of entry of this Decree.

It was also ordered to complete a rigorous series of inspections by a third-party inspector, in this case LCS, by 2006.

Notes

References

External links


 
 

 

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