Schering Says New Drug Priced Lower

Schering-Plough Corp. said it will charge 18% less for its new allergy drug Clarinex than for its blockbuster Claritin, in a bid to switch patients to Clarinex before the older drug loses its U.S. marketing exclusivity late next year.

The Food and Drug Administration last week approved Clarinex, a slightly altered form of Claritin, for use in treating seasonal allergies. Schering-Plough said Friday that it plans to launch the treatment in January, but had not disclosed how it would be priced.

“Our list price to wholesalers for Clarinex will be $1.83 [per tablet], compared with $2.22 for Claritin,” company spokesman William O’Donnell said.

The discount for Clarinex, compared with Claritin, is deeper than the 5%-to-15% range that many Wall Street analysts had predicted.

Analysts have said such discounts would be necessary to woo patients to Clarinex from Claritin before December 2002, when Claritin’s U.S. monopoly is set to expire, thereby ushering in a possible flood of cheaper copycat medicines.

Schering-Plough shares closed down 93 cents to $36.18 on the New York Stock Exchange.