Prestige Agrees To Divest Bonine Assets For Insight Acquisition

(RTTNews) - Pharmaceutical company Prestige Brands Holdings, Inc. (PBH) has agreed to divest assets and marketing rights for the over-the-counter motion sickness drug Bonine to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that its proposed acquisition of Insight Pharmaceuticals Corp. would likely be anticompetitive.

Prestige proposed to acquire Insight for $750 million, under an agreement dated April 25.

The FTC's proposed settlement with Prestige requires the maker of Dramamine to divest Bonine to Wellspring Pharmaceuticals within 10 days after the acquisition.

Sarasota, Florida-based Wellspring produces a range of over-the-counter medications and markets them in the U.S. and Canada.

According to the FTC, Prestige's Dramamine, which is the best-selling branded product in the market for over-the-counter motion-sickness drugs, and Insight's Bonine, are the only two branded products with significant sales.

Absent a remedy, the acquisition would eliminate the close competition between Dramamine and Bonine, likely leading to higher prices for consumers.

The Commission voted 5 to 0 to accept the proposed consent order for public comment. The proposed settlement is part of the Commission's ongoing effort to protect U.S. consumers from higher healthcare-related costs.

PBH closed down 1.3 percent on Thursday at $34.75.