WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) — Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC will divest five generic injectable pharmaceuticals to complete its $5 million acquisition of the rights to Ben Venue Laboratories Inc. products.of the rights to Ben Venue Laboratories Inc. products.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ruled Hikma’s acquisition likely would be anticompetitive, and has mandated Hikma to divest the injectable products to Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc., a California-based specialty pharmaceutical company.
Without this divestiture, the FTC believes the market would be anti-competitive for Acyclovir sodium injection, Diltiazem hydrochloride injection, Famotidine injection, Prochlorperazine edisylate injection and Valproate sodium injection.
New entries to the market would not be timely, likely or sufficient to deter the anti-competitive aspects of the acquisition, the FTC also charged. It takes at least two years to bring a product to the market as drug development and FDA approval requirements are time consuming.
The FTC voted 4-0 to issue the complaint and accept the proposed consent order for public comment.