Indivior Agrees To Pay $30M Over Suboxone Claims

Indivior Agrees To Pay $30M Over Suboxone Claims

Introduction

Indivior has agreed to pay $30 million to resolve a class action lawsuit brought by health plans against the pharmaceutical company for allegedly improperly stifling generic competition for its Suboxone opioid addiction therapy.

The agreement, which was disclosed in a document made in federal court in Philadelphia by the health plans' attorneys, still needs to be authorized by the judge. With a trial set for October, pharma wholesalers who purchased Suboxone from the Virginia-based corporation directly are still suing Indivior.

The CEO of the business stated that treating persons with mental illnesses and drug use problems remains the company's key priority. He continued by saying that settling these old legal disputes at the proper price helps us forward our goal for patients and gives our stakeholders more assurance.

In 2002, Suboxone received approval for commercialization in the US. Until 2009, Indivior held the only permission to offer the medication as tablets. In their complaints, the health plans and drug distributors said that Indivior changed the form of Suboxone from a tablet to an oral film in order to maintain its monopoly just as generic manufacturers were getting ready to launch their own less expensive tablets. In 2013, generic pills received government clearance.

In June, Indivior agreed to pay $102.5 million to resolve a number of lawsuits brought by 41 states and Washington, D.C. In 2020, the business consented to pay $600 million to settle claims made by the US government that it had falsely advertised Suboxone, particularly by portraying the movie version as being safer and less likely to be abused than comparable medications.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, overdoses involving opioids claimed the lives of more than 80,000 Americans in 2021.