Prestige Brands Holdings Strikes Deal With GSK

In its largest acquisition ever, Prestige Brands Holdings Inc. will pay British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline PLC $660 million cash for a group of over-the-counter pharmaceutical brands including Beano and Tagamet, according to reports

The Irvington, N.Y. company is also buying pain relievers BC, Goody’s and Ecotrin, gastrointestinal brands Beano, Gaviscon, Phazyme, Tagamet and Fiber Choice, and Sominex sleep aids — 17 brands in all, said the report. With this deal and several other recent acquisitions, Prestige says its annual revenue will total about $600 million.

In September 2010, Prestige agreed to buy Blacksmith Brand Holdings Inc., which sells Efferdent and Effergrip denture care products, PediaCare children’s medicines, Luden’s cough drops and other products. In December 2010 it bought the motion sickness medicine Dramamine from Johnson & Johnson.