35 States File 'Product Hopping' Lawsuit Against Indivior

Sept. 23, 2016

British opiod drugmaker Indivior is facing lawsuits from 35 U.S. states alleging it employed a product hopping strategy to keep generic versions of Suboxone off the market.

The states allege that when Indivior's exclusive right to sell the drug neared its expiration in 2009 the company, citing pediatric safety concerns, petitioned the FDA to set strict packaging requirements for potential competitors. The lawsuit alleges this was done in order to delay generics and buy time to switch patients over to Indivior's dissolveable oral strip version of Suboxone.

The lawsuit also claims that Indivior persuaded the FDA to approve the strip version by raising concerns that the tablet posed high exposure risks to children. 

Read the Telegraph coverage.