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(Alliance News) - Indivior PLC on Friday announced that Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC has submitted a GBP1.07 billion claim against the company.
Shares in Indivior dropped 32% to 83.26 pence in London in midday trade.
The claim related to an indemnity contained in the demerger agreement entered into between the two companies in November 2014. Drug maker Indivior spun off from consumer health and hygiene firm Reckitt and listed on the London Stock Exchange in December of that year.
The claim was submitted on November 13.
Indivior said: "The claim has not been served on the company and the company does not have any further details at this time. The company will assess with its advisors the background and merits to the case and will provide an update in due course."
This is the latest in a series of legal hurdles for Indivior. In July 2020, it agreed to part with USD600 million to resolve criminal charges in the US related to its Suboxone film opioid dependence medication after a grand jury in the Western District of Virginia issued an indictment of 28 felony counts against the company in April 2019 related to fraud.
The felonies, issued in connection with a federal criminal investigation initiated by the US Department of Justice in 2013, include one count of conspiracy to commit mail, wire and health care fraud; one count of health care fraud; four counts of mail fraud; and 22 counts of wire fraud.
The federal court dismissed all of these charges. Indivior could have faced USD3 billion in fines related to the matters.
Before that, Indivior in June 2020 said it was considering its appeal options after it was hit by a final ruling by the US patent board in a case relating to generic production of Suboxone by Indian pharmaceutical company Dr Reddy's Laboratories.
The Patent Trial & Appeal Board of the US Patent & Trademark Office ruled that some parts of Indivior's patent for Suboxone are "unpatentable".
Dr Reddy's in November 2018 filed two petitions against Indivior's Suboxone patent so it could launch a cheaper generic version of the drug.
The US patent office denied institution of one of the inter partes to review petition, but granted Dr Reddy's for the second IPR petition.
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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