AUGUSTA – Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey announced that 42 states, led by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, have negotiated a nationwide $102.5 million settlement with the maker of Suboxone, Indivior Inc. Suboxone is a drug used to treat opioid use disorder. Maine will receive approximately $3 million from the settlement.
“Manipulating the market for a life-saving drug needed by vulnerable citizens in order to increase company profits is unconscionable,” said Attorney General Frey. “We hope that this lawsuit shows drug manufacturers that we are watching and will not tolerate conduct that violates our antitrust laws and shamelessly exploits our consumers.”
In 2016 the States filed a complaint against Indivior Inc. alleging that it used illegal means to switch the Suboxone market from tablets to film while attempting to destroy the market for tablets, in order to preserve its drug monopoly. Trial had been set for September 2023.
The agreement, which will be submitted to the court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for approval, requires Indivior to pay the states $102.5 million. Indivior is also required to comply with negotiated injunctive terms that include disclosures to the States of all citizen petitions to the FDA, introduction of new products, or if there is a change in corporate control, which will help the States ensure that Indivior refrains from engaging in the same kind of conduct alleged in the complaint.
Joining Maine in filing the lawsuit are forty-one other states, including Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Attorney General Frey would like to extend his thanks to Consumer Protection Division Chief Assistant Attorney General Christina Moylan for her extensive work on this effort.
Original source can be found here.
