SCHERING-PLOUGH TO RESTRUCTURE OPERATIONS, FOCUS ON INTERNATIONAL MARKET

Schering-Plough has announced that it would restructure its operations overseas to ensure the company has a heightened presence in the international drug market.

Schering-Plough is restructuring its Europe-based regional organization into two separate areas to increase its focus on the "important and increasingly complex pharmaceutical marketplaces of Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Canada, the Middle East and Africa," the company said.

Region I will include Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Region II will include Austria, Belgium, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The company also is dividing its Latin America/Far East region into two separate regional organizations: Latin America and Asia-Pacific. This reorganization is part of Schering-Plough's six- to eight-year plan to make the company more competitive.

"These changes allow us to focus even more effectively on the needs of our customers in different markets, to better manage and drive growth and to build a competitive edge through innovation, speed and flexibility," said Fred Hassan, chairman and CEO of Schering-Plough.