UPDATE 2-Schering-Plough fertility hormone meets study goals

(Adds study cites, differences in treatment)

CHICAGO, July 8 (Reuters) - Schering-Plough Corp (SGP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Tuesday said a longer-acting form of its follicle-stimulating hormone used to treat infertility met its main goals in a late-stage study.

The product, corifollitropin alfa, was found to be similar in effectiveness to the company's hormone follitropin beta, a standard hormone treatment, in a study of 1,509 patients, said Schering-Plough, which acquired the fertility treatments through the recent acquisition of Organon BioSciences.

The study's main goals were the pregnancy rate at 10 weeks or more after embryo transfer and the number of oocytes, or female reproductive cells, retrieved.

In the study, conducted at 34 in-vitro fertilization clinics in North America and Europe, women who received corifollitropin alfa had a 38.9 percent chance per treatment cycle of being pregnant at 10 weeks, compared with a 38.1 percent chance for those who received follitropin beta.

Using corifollitropin alfa reduces the number of injections, requiring just one for the initial follicle stimulation process, compared with one every day for seven days when treated with follitropin beta.

The data were presented at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Barcelona.

Schering-Plough acquired the fertility treatments in its $14.4 billion acquisition of Organon Biosciences.

Shares of Schering-Plough, which have been battered this year due to a failed trial of its Vytorin cholesterol drug, rose 61 cents, or 3.06 percent, to $20.55 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Susan Kelly, editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Leslie Gevirtz)