Merck, Schering-Plough to join forces to marry four drugs.

Byline: Susan Warner

Pharmaceutical competitors Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. said Tuesday they will join forces to create new heart and respiratory drugs by marrying aging powerhouses, Zocor and Claritin, with two newcomers.

The New Jersey companies said they plan to seek government approval to sell a new pill that would combine Merck's cholesterol-lowering drug Zocor with ezetimibe, a cholesterol absorption inhibitor under development by Schering-Plough.

The partnership would also combine Schering-Plough's blockbuster antihistamine Claritin with Singulair, which reduces asthma inflammation and was launched by Merck in 1998.

The combination strategy would give patients a double whammy of medicine in a single pill and would give each company access to new products as they face the loss of key patents.

"It's a novel approach," said Bob Kirby, a pharmaceutical analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis.

"It seems to me there is a sound scientific basis," he said. "You're fighting the war on a couple of fronts, which bodes well for treating the disease."