Schering-Plough quarterly revenue up 40 percent; purchase of Organon BioSciences affects numbers

KENILWORTH, N.J. Schering-Plough stated Tuesday it lost $3.36 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007 because of accounting rules related to the purchase of Organon BioSciences.

Without the accounting adjustments, Schering-Plough said it would have had a profit of 27 cents per share in the quarter, but the loss, amounted to $2.08 per share for the three months ended Dec. 31.

Quarterly revenue rose 40 percent to $3.72 billion from $2.65 billion a year ago, exceeding analyst estimates of $3.1 billion.

The company reported double-digit sales increases in each of its three segments, prescription pharmaceuticals, consumer health care and animal health. “Schering-Plough delivered another strong performance in both the fourth quarter and full year of 2007,” chairman and chief executive officer Fred Hassan said.

Dutch biopharmaceutical Organon was acquired in November for about $14.43 billion in cash, allowing Schering-Plough to expand its late-stage product pipeline and human health business. “Today, we are a much stronger and more diverse company than ever before, and we are better positioned to deal with the new challenges confronting us in 2008,” Hassan said.