Hikma must sell two drugs as condition of Baxter Healthcare acquisition, says US antitrust body

The USA’s Federal Trade Commission will require Jordan-based drugmaker Hikma Pharmaceuticals (LSE: HIK; Dubai: HIK) to divest two generic injectable pharmaceuticals - phenytoin and promethazine - as part of a settlement allowing it to acquire certain assets from Baxter Healthcare. Hikma proposes to acquire Baxter’s entire generic injectable pharmaceutical business for $111.5 million, including Baxter’s Cherry Hill, New Jersey, manufacturing facility and a warehouse and distribution center in Memphis, Tennessee (The Pharma Letter October 29, 2010).

According to the FTC, without the relief the divestiture provides, the acquisition would be anticompetitive and likely would result in higher prices for the two drugs. The proposed settlement is the latest example of the FTC’s ongoing efforts to preserve competition in US pharmaceutical markets, the agency said. The Commission vote approving the complaint and proposed consent order was five to zero.

Phenytoin is an anti-convulsant drug used to control and prevent seizures during or after surgery. In 2009, sales of injectable phenytoin totaled $1.5 million. Promethazine is used to prevent some types of allergies or allergic reactions, 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. U.S. sales of generic injectable promethazine totaled $17 million in 2009.