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(Alliance News) - Indivior PLC on Thursday said it swung to a loss in the first quarter of 2020 due to erosion of the company's US market share for opioid addiction treatment Suboxone Film.
Shares in the company were down 7.1% at 47.08 pence in London.
The drug maker reported a USD191 million pretax loss for the three months ended March 31, swinging from a USD77 million profit the year before.
This resulted from a steep 36% drop in revenue to USD153 million from USD238 million, primarily due to loss of market share for its opiate addiction drug Suboxone film in the US, which dragged US net revenue down 48%.
Upon exiting the quarter, Suboxone Film's market share in the US was 22%, down from 40% the year before following the launch of a generic competitor.
Indivior is currently locked in a legal battle over Suboxone Film, after it was indicted by a grand jury in a case bought by the US Department of Justice. The DoJ is seeking USD3 billion and has accused Indivior of health care fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy in connection with its marketing and promotion of Suboxone Film, as well as paediatric safety claims and over-prescription.
Indivior's motions to dismiss the US indictment have failed and the company has "increased its provision for investigative and antitrust litigation matters" to USD621 million from USD438 million.
The company withdrew its annual guidance at the start of April in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and does not foresee providing any revised guidance until "the duration and extent of the market disruptions" caused by the virus become clearer.
Chief Executive Shaun Thaxter said: "Indivior's performance in Q1 was in-line with our expectations as we executed against our strategy. However, at the end of the quarter, we experienced an abrupt change in market conditions as the Covid-19 pandemic began to take effect. Our priorities in this challenging period are to put our people and patients first, to maintain supplies of our medicines to those that need them most and to plan for the potential impacts of Covid-19 across our business.
"Cash preservation will also remain a key element of our near-term strategy, and as part of our Covid-19 response the executive committee has decided that its members will forgo any bonus payment for 2020 associated with the group's annual incentive bonus plan. We continue to actively mitigate enterprise risk, including our ongoing efforts to settle outstanding litigation, for which we took a further provision, and by making further investments in our internal compliance and processes to reflect the new working practices".
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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