LANGHORNE, Pa. — Insight Pharmaceuticals has purchased the e.p.t home pregnancy testing brand from Johnson & Johnson.
Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed. Insight, owned by private equity firm Swander Pace Capital, said Tuesday that e.p.t joins its roster of over-the-counter products and personal care items, which includes such brands as Sucrets, Nix, Bonine and Gentle Naturals.
"E.p.t aligns well with our strategy to build a significant portfolio of OTC and personal care products by acquiring known and trusted brands that we can leverage through drug, grocery and mass retail channels nationwide," commented Gary Downing, chief executive officer of Insight Pharmaceuticals.
"This acquisition of e.p.t represents our second major acquisition in the past 18 months," Downing added. In June 2009, Insight acquired a portfolio of well-known brands that included Gentle Naturals, Dermarest and Pronto Plus.
The company said e.p.t, which stands for "early pregnancy test," pioneered home pregnancy testing as the first Food and Drug Administration-approved, commercially available home pregnancy test, according to the National Institute of Health. Since the 1970s, e.p.t — which Insight reported is 99% percent accurate — has been used by millions of women for early pregnancy detection.
E.p.t will continue to be available through existing retail channels and will be marketed under Insight Pharmaceuticals’ growing portfolio of products, the company said.
"We see tremendous value in the goodwill and brand awareness of e.p.t and our other OTC and personal care products," Downing stated. "We continue to evaluate additional acquisitions to expand our portfolio with quality consumer brands that can be leveraged through our merchandising and marketing expertise."
