Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that 42 states, led by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, have negotiated a nationwide $102.5 million settlement with Indivior Inc., the maker of Suboxone. Michigan will receive approximately $2.2 million from the settlement.
“Indivior’s actions to push customers toward the company’s patent-protected version of Suboxone by claiming it was safer than tablets ignored antitrust laws,” Nessel said. “Suboxone is a crucial drug in the treatment of those recovering from Opioid use disorder. Indivior took advantage of sufferers at their most vulnerable. This settlement puts drug manufacturers on notice, that when their corporate practices represent monopolistic behavior, they will be held accountable.”
In 2016, the states filed a complaint against Indivior Inc. alleging that they 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. The 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, the introduction of new products, and notification if there is a change in corporate control. These disclosures will help the States ensure that Indivior refrains from engaging in the same kind of conduct alleged in the complaint.
Wisconsin’s assistant attorney general for antitrust, Gwendolyn Lindsay Cooley, is the lead attorney for the forty-two states which, in addition to Michigan, also include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, 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.
