Indivior salesmen ‘told to send doctors articles about baby deaths in bid to boost sales of new drug’
Indivior salesmen were told to send doctors articles about baby deaths to boost sales of a new drug, US prosecutors claim.
It was allegedly part of an aggressive marketing campaign to push a film version of its Suboxone opioid addiction drug.
A list of ‘best practices’ to get doctors to switch from tablets included ‘baby death articles’.
Indivior salesmen were told to send doctors articles about baby deaths to encourage them to instead prescribe a new film version of the drug Suboxone, American prosecutors claim
It said Suboxone film was less likely to be mis-used by children.
But US prosecutors say the company had no evidence to back up its claims and had fraudulently made billions from Suboxone film.
They say the firm put ‘profits over the health and well-being of patients’.
They also say Indivior sales reps put opioid addicts in touch with doctors they knew were ‘carelessly’ prescribing drugs.
Indivior, which faces a £2.3bn fine if it is found guilty, previously said the American indictment was ‘wholly unsupported by either the facts or the law’.
It added: ‘We are extremely disappointed in this action by the Justice Department.
‘Key allegations are contradicted by the government’s own scientific agencies, they are almost exclusively based on years-old events from before Indivior became an independent company in 2014, and they are wrong.
‘The department has apparently decided it would rather pursue self-serving headlines on a matter of national significance than achieve an appropriate resolution, but we will contest this case vigorously and we look forward to the full facts coming out in court.
‘The medications Indivior provides play an essential role in treating opioid use disorder and addressing the national opioid crisis.’