Pleasant Ridge-based drug maker Duramed Pharmaceuticals Wednesday officially became a subsidiary of Barr Laboratories, as Barr shareholders overwhelmingly approved a merger of the two.

        Shareholders of Duramed, which was delisted from Nasdaq after the market closed Wednesday, will receive one share of Barr stock for every 3.9032 shares of Duramed. Barr stock closed at $75.70, down $3.85, while Duramed shares closed at $19.29, down $1.15

        The deal, announced in June and believed to be worth $589 million, was completed later Wednesday afternoon and has cleared all regulatory hurdles.

        Duramed, best known for its line of female hormonal products and oral contraceptives, will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary under the Barr name. Barr officials said the process of merging administrative functions will probably start in mid-November, but would not speculate on possible job losses.

        E. Thomas Arington, former chairman and chief executive officer of Duramed, and two other Duramed board members are expected to be elected to Barr's board.

        Duramed officials have said the merger will not affect the company's antitrust lawsuit against American Home Products Corp. and its subsidiary Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories Inc. Duramed has accused Wyeth of unfairly requiring managed-care programs to sign exclusive contracts for its estrogen drug Premarin, thereby eliminating Duramed's Cenestin.

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