Schering-Plough announces dissolution of permanent injunction consent decree

Schering-Plough has announced that the US District Court for the District of New Jersey has dissolved its consent decree of permanent injunction.

This decision follows a recent petition by Schering-Plough for the dissolution of the decree relating to compliance with current good manufacturing practices at the firm’s sites in Puerto Rico and New Jersey.

Schering-Plough announced in January last year that it had completed the 30 validation actions and 212 significant steps required under the consent decree, which was entered into in May 2002.

The company’s petition was not opposed by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Fred Hassan, chairman and chief executive officer of Schering-Plough, said: “This is an important milestone for Schering-Plough as we continue to put issues of the past behind us and make further progress on our Action Agenda.”

He added that guaranteeing the quality of systems and products of the company is the foundation of all of its actions, with the firm working hard to earn the trust of stakeholders in Schering-Plough.

In December 2006, Schering-Plough announced four proposals aimed at enhancing its corporate governance.

These included: the termination of its existing shareholders’ rights plan, a reduction in the supermajority shareholder voting requirements for some decisions, having directors elected by majority rather than plurality and speeding up other approved election changes.