* Companies settle indemnities over U.S. probe over Suboxone
Film
* Indivior to pay Reckitt $50 million over five-year period
* Reckitt settled with United States in 2019, Indivior in
2020
(Writes through with details on settlement, background, shares)
By Pushkala Aripaka
Jan 25 (Reuters) - Indivior said on Monday former
parent Reckitt Benckiser would withdraw a $1.4 billion
claim against the company and it would pay the Dettol-maker $50
million to end a legal battle related to a U.S. probe into
opioid addiction.
The settlement offers some respite to the London-listed
drugmaker after failed efforts to stop generic versions of
Suboxone Film, its top-selling drug and subject of the U.S.
investigation, hit sales as it was further battered by the
probe.
Reckitt and Indivior also agreed to drop all liabilities
against each other and Indivior will not seek damages relating
to its $600 million settlement with the U.S. Department of
Justice and the $10 million it paid the Federal Trade
Commission, the drugmaker said.
Its subsidiary pleaded guilty to a felony charge in July to
resolve U.S. allegations that it had engaged in an illegal
scheme to boost prescriptions of its opioid addiction treatment
Suboxone Film.
Indivior also said on Monday the $50 million consideration
it was paying Reckkit will be carried out over five years. It
did not provide any further details on the settlement.
Reckitt did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
The United States has been cracking down on pharmaceutical
firms it believes have fuelled the opioid addiction crisis in
the country, and Reckitt agreed to pay up to $1.4 billion in
2019 to resolve claims against its former pharmaceuticals unit.
Indivior itself was indicted in early 2019 and accused of
deceiving U.S. doctors and healthcare benefit programs into
believing the treatment, itself a form of opioid, was safer and
less susceptible to abuse than similar drugs.
The long-running U.S. investigations into the London-listed
companies began much before Indivior was spun out from Reckitt
in 2014.
Indivior shares closed down roughly 2% at 127.9 pence before
the setllement was announced, whereas Reckitt ended the day 4.5%
higher at 6,554 pence.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru, additional
reporting by Samantha Machado; Editing by Anil D'Silva and David
Evans)
