Shares in Indivior PLC (LON:INDV) edged higher on Friday after US authorities agreed to extend a temporary restraining order preventing Indian giant Dr Reddy’s from launching a copycat version of its best-selling Suboxone Film, used to treat opiate drug addiction.
Earlier this month, £500mln was wiped from the UK drugmaker’s value after Dr Reddy’s said it was going to the market with its cut-price product – much to the surprise of analysts.
READ: Indivior wins temporary legal respite
Indivior was granted an initial temporary restraining order last Monday and a court in New Jersey has extended it for another 14 days pending a hearing the preliminary injunction motion filed by Indivior two weeks ago.
The injunction being sought would place an embargo on a Dr Reddy's launch of a Suboxone generic until a patent dispute is resolved.
Long-running legal battles
FTSE 250-listed Indivior has been down the legal route several times over the past couple of years to protect its star asset, which is responsible for about four-fifths of its total sales.
Various claims and counter-claims have been filed against the copycats, two of which – from Dr Reddy’s and Mylan – have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Suboxone Film is protected by patents until 2022, which means a generic rival can’t hit the market for another four years.
But Dr Reddy’s doesn’t believe its treatment infringes any of those patents, and a court ruling in Delaware last year backed up that claim, although Indivior is in the process of challenging it.
Shares rose 1.1% to 383.3p on Friday morning.