Speciality drug maker Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC agreed to divest two generic injectable medicines to win Federal Trade Commission approval of its $111 million acquisition of Baxter Healthcare Corp.
Without the divestiture, the merger would have been anticompetitive and likely resulted in higher prices for the two drugs, according to the FTC.
One of the drugs, promethazine, had sales of $17 million in 2009. It’s used to prevent some types of allergies, to prevent or control motion sickness, nausea, vomiting, and dizziness, and to help patients go to sleep and control their pain or anxiety before or after surgery. The other drug, phenytoin, is an anti-convulsant used to control and prevent seizures during or after surgery. In 2009, sales of injectable phenytoin totaled $1.5 million.
Only three companies in the United States - Hikma, Baxter, and Hospira, Inc. - currently provide phenytoin and promethazine. The acqusition would have reduced the number of suppliers from three to two.
Within 10 days of the acquisition, Hikma must divest the drugs to X-Gen Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Hikma, which was founded in Amman, Jordan in 1978 was represented by Brian Meiners of King & Spalding. FTC lawyers included Randall Long and Michael Moiseyev.
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