WASHINGTON - U.S. antitrust regulators have approved Warner Chilcott Plc's purchase of Procter & Gamble Co's pharmaceuticals business, the Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday.

Ireland-based Warner Chilcott, which makes contraceptives and an array of female hormone replacement therapies, said in August that it would buy P&G's drug business, including osteoporosis treatment Actonel.

The FTC announced the approval in a listing of deals that it puts out several times a week. The deal was valued at $3.1 billion.

Cincinnati-based P&G, best known for its vast array of household consumer products, such as Tide detergent and Crest toothpaste, had said it was selling its branded medicines to focus on its consumer health-care businesses. (Reporting by Diane Bartz, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Medicine