Indivior in freefall as it loses court ruling to block generic Suboxone

Indivior shares were in freefall in afternoon trading on Tuesday as it emerged that the company had lost an appeals court ruling that could allow Dr Reddy's Laboratories to start selling a generic version of its top-selling opioid addiction treatment, Suboxone Film.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that the judge in an earlier trial in a lower court was wrong to say that Indivior was likely to win its patent-infringement case against Dr Reddy's.

The appeals court vacated an order that blocked Dr. Reddy’s and remanded the case to the trial court in Delaware for further proceedings. The order had restricted Reddy's from selling, marketing or importing its copycat film after the US company which won approval for its version of Suboxone Film from the US drug regulator in June and launched it onto the market soon after.

Now that the order has been vacated, this opens the door for Dr Reddy's to resume selling its copycat version.

Indivior said in a brief statement that it was "disappointed" that the US Court of Appeals had vacated the preliminary injunction against Dr Reddy's.

It added that it will "continue to vigorously pursue ongoing infringement cases" against Dr Reddy's to protect its Suboxone sublingual film patent portfolio.

"The company is in the process of interpreting the ruling in its entirety and will issue a statement on its implications once this review has been completed."

In its third-quarter update earlier this month, Indivior said Suboxone film made up the majority of revenue, with a dip in market share to 50% in the quarter after the launch of Dr Reddy's generic rival in the second quarter, which was subsequently blocked by a court injunction at the request of Indivior.

At 1533 GMT, the shares were down 39% to 125.20p.