SCHERING-PLOUGH, LaSALLE LABS AGREEMENT FOR GYNECOLOGICAL HORMONE PRODUCTS

SCHERING-PLOUGH, LaSALLE LABS AGREEMENT FOR GYNECOLOGICAL HORMONE PRODUCTS calls for codevelopment and comarketing in the U.S. and Canada. The first two products to be marketed under the agreement, announced on April 29, will be "a natural oral progesterone and a transdermal estradiol gel, both of which are under review" by FDA, Schering-Plough said in a press statement. The company noted that the products are "the leading female sex hormone products" in France and Belgium, where they are marketed under tradenames Utrogestan and Oestragel by the French firm Laboratoire Basins Iscovesco, while had filed the INDs at FDA. The firms are colicensees. They predicted that the first product developed under the agreement could be approved by FDA in early 1989. The firms estimate that the estrogen replacement market has grown 25% annually and could reach "$ 750 mil. in factor sales within five years." LaSalle Laboratories is based in Washington, D.C. It is a private start-up firm established in late 1987 as a "speciality gynecological company." The company is headed by Washington lawyer Michael Morrell. LaSalle is in the process of hiring managers. Under the agreement, LaSalle will focus its marketing efforts on gynecologists. Schering-Plough will concentrate on primary care physicians and hospitals.