US FTC clears Barr's bid for Pliva, but with conditions for product disposals

Although, as USA-based Barr Pharmaceuticals stated, the US Federal Trade Commission voted unanimously (five to nil) to approve its acquisition of Croatian group Pliva for around $2.5 billion (Marketletters passim), this did not come without conditions.

The FTC alleged that the purchase, as originally structured, would have eliminated current or future competition between Barr and Pliva in certain markets for generic drugs treating depression, high blood pressure and ruptured blood vessels, and in the market for organ preservation solutions, thereby increasing the likelihood that consumers would pay more for vital products.

In settling the Commission's charges, Barr is required to sell its generic antidepressant trazodone and its blood pressure medication triamterene/HCTZ. The firm has also been told to divest either Pliva's or its own generic nimodipine for use in treating ruptured blood vessels in the brain. Finally, Barr is called on to dispose of Pliva's branded organ preservation solution Custodial.