Indivior dives after late profit warning

Drug company Indivior has reinstated its full year guidance, after withdrawing it in July due to uncertainty about court challenges from rivals.

Indivior, which makes Suboxone film to treat opioid addiction and has launched a new monthly version called Sublocade, said it expected to generate net revenue of $0.99-1.02bn and net income of $230-255m at constant exchange rates, excluding exceptional items, down from the $290-320m given at the start of the year. Net income last year was $270m on revenue of $1.09bn and analysts at Numis has been forecasting $937.3m revenue, $299.9m EBITA and $317.8m EBITDA for 2018.

Indivior downgraded its full year net revenue guidance for Sublocade to $8-10m from the $25-50m it had previously given as the "inflection point" it had assumed would occur in the fourth quarter has "not yet begun".

Indivior said it generated just $3-4m of net reveue from Sublocade in the third quarter, a slight increase from the $2m in the first half of the year as the Sublocade team have been "steadily breaking down the barriers impeding accelerated treatment adoption" but revenue development has still been held back by "inefficiencies associated with the prior authorization process across payors", as previously highlighted.

The company also announced new cost saving initiatives that together are expected to generate annual pre-tax savings of $80-100m in the next full year, up from $25m announced earlier in the year.

Shares in Indivior fell 16% to 215p, a new two-year low, in the few minutes after the announcement was released just before the close on Wednesday.