Schering-Plough
The former Schering-Plough Corporation was a global pharmaceutical company based in theUnited States. It was founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering as Schering AG inGermany. 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 theskin 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]
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History
Schering was founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering as Schering AG in Germany.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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; andMemphis, Tennessee.[3]
In 1971, the Schering Corporation merged with Plough, Inc. At the time of the merger, Abe Plough became Chairman of the combined company.[4]
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.[citation needed]
Schering-Plough was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 and 2005 by Working Mothersmagazine.[citation needed]
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 ofrabies, 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.[citation needed]
On 12 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.[5]
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..[6] By August 21, 2008, Famvir (famciclovir) was marketed by Schering-Plough; formerly it was marketed by Novartis.[citation needed]
As a result of the acquisition of Organon BioSciences, Schering-Plough bolstered its animal health business with the Akzo Nobel subsidiary Intervet, obtained control of the active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturer, Diosynth and gained access to human vaccine production through the subsidiary Nobilon. The three companies comprising Organon BioSciences were–Organon, Diosynth, and Intervet.[5]
On March 9, 2009 it was announced that Schering-Plough and Merck were to merge. On November 4, 2009 Schering-Plough merged withMerck & Co. and through a reverse merger Merck became a subsidiary of Schering-Plough, which renamed itself Merck.[7][8][9][10]
| Chief executives | |
| Name | Tenure |
| Willibald H. Cozen | 1971 – 1979 |
| Richard J. Bennett | 1979 – January 31, 1982 |
| Robert P. Luciano | February 1, 1982 – December 31, 1995 |
| Richard J. Kogan | January 1, 1996 – April 2003 |
| Fred Hassan | April 2003 – November 3, 2009 |
Medical products
Prescription products
- Cerazette
- Desloratadine – antihistamine branded Neoclarityn
- Esmeron/Zemuron (rocuronium)
- Intron A & PEG-Intron Interferon alfa-2b – Hep C
- Levitra (vardenafil) – Erectile-dysfunction drug; co-marketed with Bayer,and GlaxoSmithKline
- Livial (tibolone)
- Marvelon/Desogen
- Noxafil (posaconazole)
- NuvaRing
- Puregon/Follistim
- Remeron/Remeron SolTab (mirtazapine)
- Remicade (infliximab)
- Temodar (temozolomide)
- Vytorin (ezetimibe/simvastatin) – Cholesterol-lowering combination drug
- Zetia (ezetimibe) – Cholesterol-lowering drug
- Nasonex and Asmanex (Mometasone furoate)
- Famvir (Famciclovir) – for herpes zoster and shingles zoster treatment formerly Novartis
- Bridion (sugammadex)
- Quazepam (Doral)[11]
- Afrin – A nasal spray decongestant
- Claritin (loratadine) – An antihistamine which has less risk of causing drowsiness
- Coricidin – A palliative remedy for the common cold, targeted towards individuals with high blood pressure
- Coppertone – sunscreens
- Bain de Soleil – suncreen
- Drixoral
- Dr. Scholl’s line of products
- Zinka – Colored sunscreen
- 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.[12]
- 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.[13]
- Eclipse Vaccines – Attenuated modified live feline vaccines available in a multitude of antigen combinations.[14]
- Galaxy Vaccines – Canine vaccines available in a multitude of antigen combinations.[15]
- Optimmune – Ophthalmic ointment (ciclosporin) for the treatment of Pannis and Keratoconjunctivitis sicca in dogs.[16]
- Orbax – Trade name for orbifloxacin, a fluoroquinolone.[17]
- 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.[18]
- Banamine – A non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used in horses, cattle and swine in different parts of the world.[19]
- Estrumate – A synthetic prostaglandin used in reproduction of cattle.[20]
- Trivetrin – Trimethoprin sulfate for the treatment of cattle and swine.
- Nuflor-Florfenicol-for treatment of bovine respiratory disease, foot rot and control of respiratory disease in cattle at high risk of developing bovine respiratory disease.[21]
Over-the-counter products
Veterinary products
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.[citation needed]
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.[22][23]
Controversy
In 2004, Schering-Plough was accused of marketing gimmicks and payoffs to doctors for prescribing the company’s pharmaceutical products.[24]
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 US dollars to the US Treasury.