Dieter Luetticken Award 2008 Recognizes Development of New Vaccine Quality Control...

Dieter Luetticken Award 2008 Recognizes Development of New Vaccine Quality
Control Assay

BOXMEER, Netherlands, April 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health today announces that the Dieter
Luetticken Award 2008 for alternatives in animal testing goes to Dr. Ivo
Claassen for a project that he has managed at the Central Veterinary Institute
(CVI), Lelystad (the Netherlands). The announcement was made by Prof. Coenraad
Hendriksen, chairperson of an independent expert jury panel and Professor of
Alternatives to Animal Testing at Utrecht University (the Netherlands).

Dr. Claassen had a leading role in an interdisciplinary team with Dr. Riks
Maas and Dr. Hok Oei from the CVI in close collaboration with Dr. Jean Marc
Spieser and Dr. Catherine Milne of the European Directorate on Quality of
Medicines (EDQM), Strasbourg (France). The team developed an in vitro potency
test for the routine quality control of inactivated Newcastle Disease Virus
(NDV) vaccines. Previously, quality control of NDV vaccines included an in
vivo potency assay in chickens. The new method allows avoiding the use of
chickens and has now been included in the respective European Pharmacopoeia
monograph as an additional potency assay to release NDV vaccines. The research
project was largely funded by the Department of Agriculture, Nature and Food
Quality in the Netherlands.

"The new in vitro potency test is an attractive alternative for the existing
in vivo potency tests especially with regard to the objective of the European
regulatory authorities to replace, reduce and refine (3R) the use of
laboratory animals for production and quality control of immuno-biologicals,"
said jury chair Prof. Hendriksen.

Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health, a leading global animal health
company, sponsors the international Dieter Luetticken Award for alternatives
in animal testing to support individual scientists and life science research
institutions that make significant contributions to the 3R-concept, i.e.
reducing, refining and/or replacing the use of animals in testing for
development and manufacturing of veterinary medicines. The Company recently
became a member of EPAA, the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches
to Animal Testing.

The total amount of the award is euro 20,000 and will be presented to Dr.
Claassen on September 3, 2009 during the award session at the 7th World
Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences which will take
place in Rome (Italy) from August 30 to September 3, 2009.

Candidates for the Dieter Luetticken Award are selected by a jury panel
composed of experts from public institutions in the animal health and animal
testing sector. Applications for the Dieter Luetticken Award 2009 can be
submitted until November 15, 2009. For submissions and more details, please
contact Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health - Global Communications Animal
Health (communications@intervet.com).

About the Dieter Luetticken Award

The Dieter Luetticken Award for alternatives in animal testing was established
in 2004 and is granted each year to academic scientists or not-for-profit life
sciences research institutions that have made a significant contribution to
the 3R-concept for the R&D and production of veterinary medicines. The
international award's scope covers in vitro models used in R&D which replace
animal testing for licensing purposes, methods that improve quality of life of
laboratory animals as well as studies aimed at reducing or avoiding the use of
animals in efficacy, safety and quality testing in the production of
biologicals and pharmaceuticals for animals.

The award is named after Dr. Dieter Luetticken, a committed researcher in
microbiology and virology. He has guided and shaped R&D at former Intervet for
more than a quarter of a century. Dr. Luetticken retired from Intervet in 2003
as Vice-President and Head of R&D.

Previous winners of the Dieter Luetticken Award are: Prof. Andrew Hemphill,
Switzerland (2004), Dr. Mark Stevens, United Kingdom (2006) and Prof. George
Gettinby, United Kingdom (2007).

About Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health

Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health is focused on the research,
development, manufacturing and marketing of animal health products. The
company offers customers one of the broadest, most innovative Animal Health
portfolios, spanning products to support performance and to prevent, treat and
control disease in all major farm and companion animal species. The company is
based in Boxmeer, The Netherlands. For more information about
Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health visit: www.intervet.com

Schering-Plough is an innovation-driven, science-centered global health care
company. Through its own biopharmaceutical research and collaborations with
partners, Schering-Plough creates therapies that help save and improve lives
around the world. The company applies its research-and-development platform to
human prescription, animal health and consumer health care products.
Schering-Plough's vision is to "Earn Trust, Every Day" with the doctors,
patients, customers and other stakeholders served by its colleagues around the
world. The company is based in Kenilworth, N.J., and its Web site is
http://www.schering-plough.com/

SOURCE Schering-Plough

Media, Paul Geurts of Schering-Plough, +31-485-587893, paul.geurts@spcorp.com,
or investors, Janet Barth or Joseph Romanelli, +1-908-298-7904