FDAnews
www.fdanews.com/articles/210196-indivior-to-acquire-opiant-pharmaceuticals

Indivior to Acquire Opiant Pharmaceuticals

November 16, 2022

Richmond, Va.-based Indivior, maker of the opioid treatment Suboxone (buprenorphine-naloxone), has announced plans to purchase Opiant Pharmaceuticals, a Santa Monica, Calif., producer of the opioid overdose nasal spray Narcan (naloxone), in a deal valued at $145 million.

Under the purchase deal, Opiant is eligible for milestone payments if its experimental overdose therapy OPNT003, a nasal nalmefene developed for use against synthetic opioids like fentanyl, is FDA-approved, launched and achieves specific sales targets within a seven-year period.

An Opiant spokesperson told FDAnews that the company has completed all clinical trials for OPNT003 and is in the process of submitting a New Drug Application to the FDA, which it expects to finish by the end of this year. The company previously secured FDA’s Fast Track designation for OPNT003 in November 2021.

Treating opioid addiction is slated to be a money-maker for pharmaceutical companies for the foreseeable future given the scale of the U.S. opioid epidemic. More than 100,000 drug overdose related deaths were reported in the U.S. for 2021, 75 percent of which were caused by opioids, chiefly fentanyl and synthetic opioids.

View today's stories