DRL seeks $70mn from Indivior for opioid delay

Indivior posted a bond of $72 million to cover Dr. Reddy's potential claim of lost profit while the injunction was contested, according to Prasad.

Update: 2019-03-11 19:47 GMT
The US Supreme Court . (Photo: AP)

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. is seeking more than $70 million from Indivior Plc as compensation for lost US sales of its generic version of a leading opioid addiction treatment that was delayed in a patent dispute with the UK-based drugmaker.

Indivior had managed to block Dr. Reddy’s generic version of Suboxone Film through a court injunction in July, despite the Indian company receiving regulatory approval earlier to sell the market-leading product for opioid dependence. Last month, the US Supreme Court refused to uphold that injunction, allowing Dr. Reddy’s to resume sales of the drug.

“If we were not injuncted by the court, we would have made a lot of money,” G.V. Prasad, Dr. Reddy’s MD & CEO, said in an interview at the company’s headquarters in Hyderabad. "If we get the lost profits, it’ll certainly outperform.”

Suboxone is the leading prescription drug used to treat opioid abuse in the US, which is battling an addiction crisis that kills 130 Americans every day, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s estimates.

Suboxone Film--absorbed by being placed under the tongue or inside the cheek to treat addiction to opioids, including heroin and prescription painkillers--accounted for almost all of Indivior’s $1 billion in sales last year.

Indivior posted a bond of $72 million to cover Dr. Reddy’s potential claim of lost profit while the injunction was contested, according to Prasad.

DRL is claiming that it’s owed more than that since the injunction lasted longer than the bond was meant to cover.

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