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Indivior will Pay $600 Million to Resolve Suboxone Charges
by Carter Holland
Invidior PLC announced on July 24 it will pay $600 million to resolve allegations that its subsidiary, Invidior Solutions, Inc., made false statements about Suboxone Film, a treatment for opioid dependence. As part of an agreement with the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the company must pay the fine over a period of seven years and has "entered into a Corporate Integrity Agreement with the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services ('HHS')." Invidior PLC "was indicted in April 2019 in one of the few corporate prosecutions related to the U.S. opioid addiction epidemic," according to Reuters. The agreement awaits approval from a federal judge.
Under the terms of the agreement, Invidior must pay $100 million as a portion of the total fine while making annual payments of $50 million from 2022 to 2027. Under the Corporate Integrity Agreement with the HHS Office of the Inspector General, the company and its subsidiaries "will continue its commitment to promoting compliance with laws and regulations and its ongoing evolution of an effective compliance program, including written standards, training, reporting, and monitoring procedures." Because of a related agreement with the HSS, the company will also "be excluded from participating in government health programs."
Invidior CEO Mark Crossley is pleased with the agreement and believes that the company is ready to move forward. "The incident to which the agreement relates occurred well in the past and does not reflect the values Indivior has strived to demonstrate and uphold during our long history of partnering with healthcare providers, policymakers, and communities to fight the opioid crisis," he said.
Suboxone Sublingual Film is a prescription medicine manufactured and marketed by Invidior. The indictment "alleged Indivior deceived doctors and healthcare benefit programs into believing the film version of Suboxone…was safer and less susceptible to abuse than similar drugs," according to a summary by Reuters.
Invidior PLC