Merck, Schering-Plough Set Meetings On Merger

LINDA A. JOHNSON

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. will hold special meetings in August for their stockholders to approve their pending merger, which would make the combined company the world's second-largest prescription drugmaker.

In filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday morning, the New Jersey neighbors said they will hold separate meetings on Aug. 7 for shareholders, who must approve the $41.1 billion deal.

Shareholders of Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck are to meet at 8:30 a.m. in Bridgewater, N.J., at the Bridgewater Marriott.

Shareholders of Kenilworth, N.J.-based Schering-Plough will then meet at 1:30 p.m. in Boston, at The Conference Center at Harvard Medical. The company regularly rotates the site of its shareholder meetings. Spokesman Steve Galpin noted Schering has a research facility and many institutional and individual investors in the Boston area.

The deal would unite Merck, the maker of asthma drug Singulair, with the maker of allergy medicine Nasonex. The companies already have a partnership selling the cholesterol drugs Vytorin and Zetia.

While Merck, the larger of the two companies, is acquiring Schering-Plough, the deal is structured as a reverse merger. Schering-Plough will technically be the remaining company, but it will keep the better-known Merck name.