Indivior files new lawsuit over Suboxone film

Indivior has filed patent lawsuits in the USA against five rivals for infringing a patent in their respective proposed generic versions of the FTSE 250 company's Suboxone sublingual film product to treat opioid addiction.

Lawsuits have been filed against Dr Reddy's, Actavis, Par, Alvogen and Teva alleging that they infringe patent number 9,855,221, which relates to certain polymer film compositions that have a "substantially uniform distribution of active drug". The patent was issued on 2 January 2018 and is listed in the Food & Drug Administration's Orange Book of approved drugs.

Last September, the company's tussle with generic competitors saw Indivior warn that a US court ruling over could lead to "material" loss of market share for Suboxone, a product that generates more than half of its revenues.

Later in the month, it filed new patent lawsuits against Dr Reddy's, Actavis, Par, Alvogen, Teva, and Mylan based on the June award of US patent 9,687,454 that was seen as protecting Suboxone film from generic competition. Indivior later struck an out-of-court settlement with Mylan over the issue.

On Thursday, Shaun Thaxter, Indivior's chief executive, said: "We continue to partner with Aquestive Therapeutics to innovate and generate new intellectual property around Suboxone film. We believe this new patent is strong and we are asserting it in order to protect our intellectual property rights."

Indivior will release its full year results on 15 February.