Indivior says remote working hits sales in Covid-19 crisis

The struggling company said all employees apart from those in essential product supply were working from home including sales staff. Lack of face-to-face contact between sales agents and potential customers is contributing to declines in orders for its Sublocade and Perseris products, Invidior said.

Financial performance in the first quarter was in line with expectations but the coronavirus pandemic has affected business in recent weeks, Indivior said. There has been a "meaningful decline" in enrolment for Sublocade and Perseris injections with its Suboxone treatment defending its depleted market share.

Indivior said: "The company believes that remote working is also affecting the decline in patient enrolments for Sublocade and Perseris as its commercial organisation is unable to engage in-person with HCPs [health care providers] and the organized health systems that constitute a key element of the company's growth strategy.

The company said with the virus set to affect the rest of 2020 it was withdrawing its earlier financial guidance for the year because it was no longer reliable. At the end of March Indivior had gross cash of about $911m and net cash of $673m, it said.

Indivior had already forecast a loss for 2020 after a collapse in sales for its Suboxone opioid addiction treatment caused profit to plunge in 2019. Suboxone's share of the market more than halved to 24% in 2019 as generic competitors ate into sales.

Indivior has also been mired in controversy after the US charged it with making fraudulent claims about Suboxone's effects.

"The company does not expect to be in a position to provide revised guidance until the duration and extent of the market disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic are known," Indivior said.