SCHERING-PLOUGH WILL EXPAND OPERATIONS IN LATIN AMERICA

Schering-Plough will establish Schering-Plough Produtos Farmaceuticos Limitada, a wholly owned operation based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to market its core products, and will restructure its agreement with Brazilian drugmaker Mantefarma as part of its effort to increase its presence in Latin America, the company announced.

Schering-Plough entered into an agreement in 1991 with Mantefarma to market and distribute several products through Industria Quimica e Farmaceutica Schering-Plough. Under a new agreement, Mantefarma, which will now be known as Mantecorp, will continue to manufacture a number of Schering-Plough primary care products.

Schering-Plough Produtos Farmaceuticos Limitada will assume commercial responsibility for several specialty care products, including hepatitis C treatment Peg-Intron (peginterferon alfa-2b) and cancer drugs Temodal (temozolomide) and Caelyx (pegylated liposomal doxorubicin HCl). The company will also market the primary care products Zetia (ezetimibe), a cholesterol-lowering medication, and the allergy drugs Claritin (loratadine) and Clarinex (desloratadine).