Schering-Plough Adds to Pipeline with Organon Acquisition

In a bold move it says will bolster its late-stage pipeline and provide necessary scale in sales and biologics manufacturing, Schering-Plough Corp. is acquiring the CNS and women's health specialist Organon BioSciences from Dutch conglomerate Akzo Nobel for $14.4 billion. For the acquisition to be a success, SP will have to find value where others have not--specifically in Organon's Phase III schizophrenia treatment asenapine, which was handed back to the company by Pfizer after disappoinging clinical results.