Indivior CEO steps down,pleads guilty over Suboxone

On June 30, the federal Department of Justice announced that Shaun Thaxter, CEO of Indivior, pleaded guilty for misrepresenting Suboxone's safety. Suboxone is buprenorphine combined with naloxone. Briefly, Indivior was trying to promote its new film, saying that its tablets caused a risk of pediatric exposure (see “Reckitt Pulls Suboxone Tablets, Citing Pediatric Exposures,” ADAW, Sept. 12, 2012, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.20347 ). It had just discontinued its own tablets and was trying to convert its patients to its patented film, because the tablets were off patent and it wanted to keep market share, crowding out any generics in a scheme commonly known as “evergreening.” Medicaid formularies in Massachusetts and Virginia were sold on the idea, and therefore agreed to approve Suboxone even to patients with children under the age of 6 living in the home. The interstate commerce made this a federal case.