These agreements are in connection with conditions set forth by the European Commission as part of its October 2007 clearance of Schering-Plough’s acquisition of the Intervet animal health business from Akzo Nobel N.V.
In two separate agreements, Pfizer and Virbac, a French animal health company, will acquire the 12 product franchises. Pfizer will acquire products from Schering-Plough’s parasiticide, swine E. coli vaccine, ruminant clostridia vaccine, equine influenza vaccine, ruminant neonatal vaccine, anti-inflammatory, companion animal/insulin and companion animal/euthanasia, and rabies vaccine franchises. Virbac will acquire products from Schering-Plough’s endocrine, mastitis and sulphonamide franchises. The agreements do not affect Schering-Plough’s marketing of these products in other global markets.
According to Schering-Plough, no manufacturing facilities or employees will be transferred with these products. The company will supply products to both Pfizer and Virbac with oversight from a monitoring trustee for a contractually defined period of time. The transactions are subject to certain closing conditions, including regulatory approval by the European Commission.