FTC Sets Conditions for Hikma’s Purchase of Roxane

Jordanian drugmaker Hikma Pharmaceuticals will sell off two drugs and relinquish marketing rights to a third to avoid tangling with the Federal Trade Commission on its planned purchase of a Boehringer Ingelheim subsidiary.

In a proposed consent order issued last week, Hikma agreed to the commission’s terms to end antitrust litigation over its proposed acquisition of Roxane Laboratories, Boehringer’s generics unit, in a deal valued at roughly $2 billion.

The FTC’s complaint — which also was filed last week — alleges that the merger would improperly concentrate the markets for generic bipolar, inflammation and arrhythmia  medications, leading to anticompetitive results.