U.S. drugmaker admits misbranding AIDS appetite medicine

(Reuters) – Par Pharmaceutical Cos, a generic drugmaker, has pleaded guilty to improperly marketing a medication intended to address appetite loss in AIDS patients, and agreed to pay $45 million to resolve a federal criminal probe and related civil litigation. The company pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for misbranding the drug Megace ES for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark, New Jersey. Private equity firm TPG Capital LP bought Par for $1.9 billion in September. …