FTC approves final order on Akorn divestment in bid for VersaPharm

Following a public comment period, the US Federal Trade Commission has approved a final order settling charges that US generic drugmaker Akorn’s (Nasdaq: AKRK) $440 million acquisition of VersaPharm and its parent company, VPI Holdings would have likely been anticompetitive.

Under the order, Akorn is required to divest its Abbreviated New Drug Application for generic injectable rifampin – which is currently pending before the Food and Drug Administration – to Watson Laboratories, a unit of Actavis (NYSE: ACT).

According to the FTC’s complaint, only VersaPharm and two other firms currently have FDA approval to sell generic injectable rifampin. There are no viable substitutes for rifampin as a course of treatment for tuberculosis. The FTC alleged that, if Akorn had consummated its acquisition of VersaPharm as originally proposed, the combined company would have been likely to delay or cancel the introduction of Akorn’s generic injectable rifampin.