The drugmaker is hosting an R&D update today for securities analysts, fund managers and the media, starting at 8:30 am EST, at its Kenilworth, New Jersey, facilities. Much of the discussion, as you can imagine, will be devoted to pipeline issues, and as Deutsche Bank analyst Barbara Ryan observed in an investor note about the gathering, “expectations…appear to be fairly low.”

Schering-Plough “will probably also use the opportunity to highlight the positive aspects of its current business model, including its diversified revenue composition, its more limited generic vulnerability versus its peers, and its extensive restructuring initiatives.”

“Nonetheless, five years into (the drugmaker’s) Action Agenda program, the company is still not in a position to provide…near-term earnings guidance because of the uncertainties surrounding the cholesterol joint venture (with Merck to promote Vytorin) and the impact of the rising dollar on the near term performance of SGP’s base business,” Ryan wrote. Vytorin’s formulary status next year is of particular concern.

If you wish, you can listen to the webcast here. Warning: the presentation lasts 4 hours and 30 minutes and does not include the question-and-answer session between Hassan and the media following lunch.