K-V Pharmaceutical, a Bridgeton, Mo.-based company focused on women's health care products, filed for bankruptcy protection on Saturday, blaming federal actions that kept it from getting the "full value" of a drug aimed at preventing premature births, Reuters reported Saturday. The company, founded in 1942, listed debts of $728.3 million and assets of $236.6 million in a filing in bankruptcy court in New York. The company blamed the bankruptcy on its "inability to realize the full value of Makena," a drug that helps avoid premature births, because of the Food and Drug Administration's refusal to enforce orphan drug marketing exclusivity for it. The company also said it was hurt by restrictions on reimbursements imposed by state Medicaid agencies.
