Acella Pharmaceuticals, LLC Announces Its Acquisition of the PRENATE® Family of Trademarks and Associated Intellectual Property

ATLANTA, Jan. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Acella Pharmaceuticals, LLC announced its acquisition of the PRENATE® family of trademarks and other associated intellectual property.  The worldwide trademarks included in the sale were the core PRENATE® mark, in addition to PRENATE DHA®, PRENATE ESSENTIAL® and PRENATE ELITE®. PRENATE® is a leading U.S. prenatal brand.

Acella has entered into a separate agreement with Avion Pharmaceuticals, LLC, Acella's sister company, to market and sell products under PRENATE®.

"We are extremely pleased about the acquisition of PRENATE," stated Mark Pugh, CEO of Acella Pharmaceuticals. "For many years, PRENATE has been a gold standard for improving the nutritional status of women throughout pregnancy and in the postnatal period, for both lactating and non-lactating mothers. The addition of PRENATE fits solidly with our core strategic vision of establishing ourselves as a leading provider in the women's health and nutritional spaces."

The American Institute of Medicine, in its publication, "Nutrition During Pregnancy" (1990 Nat'l Academy Press) stated its consensus on the use of dietary supplements before, during and after pregnancy.  The American Institute of Medicine further noted the lack of sufficient folic acid in the average American diet, for which they recommended supplementation. Acella's current portfolio of PRENATE products will assist women in supplementing this dietary need.

Under the terms of its agreement with Acella, Avion is in the process of growing a national sales force of 80 sales associates to immediately and actively promote the PRENATE® vitamin family to physicians across the U.S.

H.I.G. WhiteHorse completed the financing for the acquisition.  H.I.G WhiteHorse provides debt financing to middle market companies in the U.S. and Europe.  H.I.G WhiteHorse has a broad investment mandate to provide senior and subordinated debt for refinancing, growth capital, acquisitions and buyouts.  Credit facilities typically range in size from $15 to $100 million for companies with revenues of $50 million or more.  Jefferies & Company, Inc. acted as Exclusive Financial Advisor to Acella.

About Acella Pharmaceuticals, LLC.
Acella develops, markets, sells and distributes a broad portfolio of non-branded pharmaceutical and other products in the areas of Dermatology, Women's Health, Pediatrics and other applications. Acella specializes in identifying and bringing to market quality, affordable products to customers and patients. For additional information please contact Acella at 678-325-5189.

About Avion Pharmaceuticals, LLC.
Avion is a Specialty Pharmaceutical company that develops and markets a growing portfolio of innovative, branded pharmaceutical and dietary supplement products in the Women's Health and Dermatology areas. Avion focuses on identifying opportunities to acquire and enhance the market potential of innovative, commercially available dietary supplement products, and therapeutics and late-stage development drugs to fulfill unmet medical and dietary needs.

SOURCE Acella Pharmaceuticals, LLC