Indivior sees US patent decision wipe £1 billion off its market cap

Drugmaker Indivior (LSE: INDV) saw is market capitalization slashed by as much as £1 billion ($1.29 billion) on Friday, when its shares closed down 38% at 258.35 pence following news of an unfavorable patent ruling for its top-selling opioid addiction treatment Suboxone Film (buprenorphine and naloxone), thus opening the way for generic competition.

The US District Court for the District of Delaware has found the asserted claims of US Patent Nos 8,017,150; 8,603,514; 8,900,497 valid, but that India’s Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (BSE: 500124) does not infringe any asserted claims of those patents, and that Watson Pharmaceuticals (now an Allergan [NYSE: AGN] company) and Par Pharmaceuticals (part of Endo International) do not infringe the asserted claim of the ’497 patent.

The Court has also issued a separate ruling denying Watson’s and Par’s motions to reopen the Court’s June 2016 judgment finding that their respective proposed generic products infringe valid claims of the ’514 Patent; therefore, the Court’s ruling enjoining marketing approval and sale of Watson’s and Par’s proposed generic products until the expiration of the ’514 Patent in 2024 remains in place.