"The partnership has proven beneficial to both parties, but the market performance of Prandin(TM) is not sufficient for both parties to continue together," said Bill Poole, president, Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals Inc. "We therefore have agreed with Schering-Plough to dissolve the partnership and pursue opportunities individual to our companies' strategic needs. Novo Nordisk intends to increase its commitment to the US market by expanding our sales force up to 1,000 in the coming years, building on the growth we are experiencing with Prandin(TM), our insulin business which includes Novolin® and NovoPen® 3, and NovoSeven® which we recently introduced for the treatment of certain haemophiliacs," Poole added.
"Schering-Plough has decided to end this co-promotion agreement with Novo Nordisk in order to focus our US marketing resources on other products in our core therapeutic areas," said Richard W Zahn, president of Schering Laboratories. "We plan to redeploy the Schering Primary Care sales force to focus on our US respiratory franchise."
The original multi-year agreement between Novo Nordisk and Schering-Plough was signed in January 1998 to jointly launch and promote Prandin(TM), an oral anti-diabetic agent for treatment of Type 2 diabetes along with Novo Nordisk's line of diabetes products in the United States.
Novo Nordisk said that the impact of the agreement termination and the strengthening of the sales and marketing efforts including the hiring of additional sales representatives on its year-end earnings is expected to be neutral, and will not alter Novo Nordisk's financial expectations for this year. The impact on operating profit for Novo Nordisk after 2000 is expected to be positive.
Novo Nordisk A/S is the world leader in insulin and diabetes care and also manufactures and markets a variety of other pharmaceutical products. Furthermore the company is the world's largest producer of industrial enzymes. Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk employs approximately 15,200 people in 68 countries and markets its products in 179 countries. Its B shares are listed on the stock exchanges in Copenhagen, London and Zurich. Its ADSs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "NVO". A demerger of Novo Nordisk with the intention to spin off the Enzyme Business into a separately listed company is expected to take place around the turn of the year 2000/2001. For further company information, visit Novo Nordisk on the World Wide Web at www.novo.dk.
Schering Laboratories is the US pharmaceutical marketing arm of Schering-Plough Corporation, a research-based company engaged in the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products worldwide.
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