U.S. top court rejects bid to block Indivior opioid drug copycat

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to Indivior Plc on Tuesday, clearing the way for a copycat version of the British pharmaceutical firm’s lucrative opioid addiction treatment Suboxone Film in a victory for India-based generic drug maker Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.

Chief Justice John Roberts, in a brief order, denied Indivior’s request to put on hold a lower court’s ruling that had opened the door to cheaper generic versions of Suboxone while the company prepares an appeal to the high court.

The United States faces an opioid abuse epidemic that President Donald Trump has declared a public health emergency. Suboxone Film, which absorbs into the body by dissolving under a patient’s tongue or along the cheek, can be used to treat addiction to heroin and prescription painkillers.

In November, the Washington-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which specializes in patents, lifted a preliminary injunction that had blocked Dr. Reddy’s from selling its generic version, saying a federal judge had erred in granting the request. That ruling sent Indivior’s stock price tumbling.

-snip-

SUPREME COURT FEBRUARY 19, 2019 / 11:29 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Andrew Chung
3 MIN READ


Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-indivior/u-s-top-court-rejects-bid-to-block-indivior-opioid-drug-copycat-idUSKCN1Q8221

[mr_lebowski]

1. That's excellent news ... Suboxone has frankly been a BS racket ...

Not because of the active ingredient (Buprenorphine), but because of the INERT ingredient (Naloxone) added to the Buprenorphine ... which you (or your ins. co) end up paying 5 TIMES more for vs. if you just got generic Bupe, aka Subutex.

To make it worse, every time some new proprietary formula of Suboxone comes out (in this case, the 'strips' formula), all the doctors jump on the bandwagon and make their patients switch to THAT, the so-called 'preferred formula'.

It's a load of crap and designed to maximize profits for the one company that has the patent on 'suboxone formula X'.

There also needs to be a serious effort to create buprenorphine formulations in much lower concentrations. Currently in the USA we have 2mg doses, and 8mg doses and that's IT.

Yet, even 2mg is a LOT of the stuff, and it's an absolute nightmare to withdraw from (if taken daily, which is typical dosing). There needs to be 1mg, .75mg, .5mg, .25mg and .1mg doses available though some means other than compounding (read: EXPENSIVE) pharmacies, so that users can wean down and get off of it without it totally SUCKING.

And everyone should be allowed to be on plain, cheap, generic Subutex, not this proprietary $uboxone crap.

It's also way past time for a nasal-spray formulation of the stuff.