PROVIDENCE – Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin and 35 other attorneys general on Sept. 22 filed an antitrust lawsuit against the makers of Suboxone, a prescription drug used to treat opioid addiction, over allegations that the companies engaged in a scheme to block generic competitors and cause purchasers to pay artificially high prices.
Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals, now known as Indivior, is accused of conspiring with MonoSol Rx to switch Suboxone from a tablet version to a film that dissolves in the mouth in order to prevent or delay generic alternatives and maintain monopoly profits, according to a news release.
Over time, Reckitt allegedly converted the market away from the tablet to the film through marketing, price adjustments and other methods. After the majority of Suboxone prescriptions were written for the film, Reckitt removed the tablet from the U.S. market. •
