National lawsuit claims drug company taking advantage of heroin epidemic
GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) –
Thirty-six states including North and South Carolina have filed a lawsuit against a drug company, claiming it unlawfully pushed other competitors out of the market and then increased the prices of a prescription drug.
The opioid epidemic is a major issue in the United States. Drug Free World Foundation said about 9.2 million people are addicted to heroin
and another 13 million take opioids. Suboxone is a prescription drug that was created to cut those numbers down.
We asked Upstate medical experts to weigh in on the medication.
Amanda Leche is Emergency MD’s lead physician’s assistant in Greenville.
“They kind of have the market cornered on that product. There’s no other product to treat opiate addiction like Suboxone,” Leche said.
But there’s a reason this drug is the only one of its kind. Reckitt Pharmaceuticals put this drug on the market in 2002 in a tablet form. Suboxone was then patent protected for seven years, preventing competitors from making a cheaper generic version.
“So the makers of Suboxone realize they were about to lose their patent on the pill which means a generic could be made. And they would stop making their money. So what they did was they came up with an alternative form of Suboxone in a sub lingual patch.”
That patch is a dissolvable strip. The drug company created a new company called Indivior, created the dissolvable strips and then pushed doctors to prescribe the strips over the pills.
As a result, 36 states including North and South Carolina have filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming it unlawfully pushed other competitors out of the market and then increased the pill prices. Meanwhile promoting their patented strips. Those actions they say go against state and federal antitrust laws.
“Most of the Suboxone clinics or methadone clinics, are indeed government funded or funded by public a taxpayer money. And therefore, one thing I saw was that it could be up to $5000 per year for Suboxone treatment per patient.”
North Carolina attorney general Roy Cooper said in a press release:
“Prescription drug abuse is a serious problem in North Carolina and those trying to recover from it suffer if artificially high costs make it harder for them to get treatment.”
The makers of the drug Suboxone gave this statement:
“The company continues to take these allegations seriously, intends to defend this and other related actions, and will continue to cooperate with the relevant u.s. Government agencies in their investigations of the company.”
The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice are investigating.
Filed under: General Problems
It’s happening with Naloxone too….