LI firm buying rights to cough medicine

Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co. Inc., of Melville, has agreed to pay up to $25 million for the rights to a brand name prescription cough and cold remedy.

The remedy, TussiCaps, is an extended-release capsule containing hydrocodone polistirex and chlorpheniramine polistirex. Hi-Tech is buying it from Mallinckrodt Llc, which will continue to manufacture the formulation after selling it to Hi-Tech. The deal includes intellectual property and inventory on hand.

The TussiCaps website, capthecough.com, says, "The FDA recently removed nearly 200 unapproved prescription cough medicines containing hydrocodone from the market. Today, only 8 approved cough suppressants containing hydrocodone remain. . . . Introducing TussiCaps -- accurate, extended cough control in a capsule."

Hi-Tech will pay $11.6 million in cash up front, and as much as $12.5 million more in the following four years "depending on the competitive landscape and sales performance."

TussiCaps is prescribed for cough and upper respiratory symptoms associated with allergy or a cold in adults and children 6 and older.

The deal was made by a Hi-Tech subsidiary, ECR Pharmaceuticals, and is in tune with the company's focus on marketing cough and cold medicines to primary care doctors.

TussiCaps is protected by a patent expiring in May 2025.

Photo:  Hi-Tech Pharmacal chief executive David Seltzer at the sterile packaging area in the Amityville plant.

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