With nothing to lose and potentially much to gain, Johnson & Johnson has informed Schering-Plough that it intends to seek arbitration to gain full commercial control over Remicade and Simponi. The potential move has been on the cards ever since Merck & Co concocted an elaborate reverse merger to try and avoid triggering a change of control clause within the existing deal between J&J and Schering over the two massively important drugs (Will J&J throw a spanner in works of SchMerck?, March 11, 2009).

With both sides naturally sounding confident about their respective legal rights to the drugs, it remains difficult to predict which company currently holds the aces and would be most likely to win any ensuing arbitration. However, it is important to note that J&J has not actually filed for arbitration and therefore this notification could be a stepping stone to a compromise deal being struck.