Indivior Buys Opiant For $145 Million, Adds Opioid Overdose Treatments To Portfolio

UK-based Indivior Inc., a subsidiary of Indivior PLC, is acquiring Opiant Pharmaceuticals for $145 million, or $20 per share. Besides adding Narcan, Opiant’s bestselling treatment for opioid overdose, Indivior will also receive a cluster of assets for treating various drug addictions. 

Related Article: CDC Unveils Updated Set of Opioid Prescription Guidelines

Indivior has also promised to pay $8 per share in cash upon achievement of net revenue thresholds over seven years for OPNT003, its new investigational treatment for opioid overdose. Together with the upfront, the owners of Opiant could receive as much as $208 million. 

“Our work has never been more critical, with reported overdose deaths in the United States occurring at near record numbers,” said Mark Crossley, CEO of Indivior. 

“Opiant’s portfolio of product candidates is an excellent strategic fit that diversifies and strengthens our offerings, while Indivior’s strong commercial capabilities will propel a combined product pipeline with the potential to help patients along a continuum from addiction and rescue to recovery. We look forward to working with Opiant’s talented team as we undertake our shared mission of helping people with substance use disorders.”

Assets In Fighting Drug Overdose And Abuse 

Narcan (naloxone) was first approved in November 2015 as an intranasal opioid antagonist indicated for the emergency treatment of opioid overdose. While the nasal spray formulation has since gone generic, Opiant received $2.3 million in revenue from Narcan royalties in Q2 2022. 

In its Q3 2022 financial report, Opiant announced that it had reached a settlement in its legal dispute with Emergent BioSolutions to return all rights to Narcan to Emergent in exchange for a one-time cash payment of $25 million. 

Opiant’s new overdose-reversal drug. OPNT003, is a nasal-spray formulation of nalmefene, an opioid receptor antagonist. OPNT003 has been shown in late-stage clinical trials to induce faster and longer-lasting responses to reverse overdoses from remifentanil, or bootleg fentanyl compared to naloxone-based drugs such as Narcan. 

In November 2021, OPNT003 received Fast Track Designation from the US FDA. Opiant has said that it expects to complete the submission for drug approval for OPNT003 in Q4 2022. 

Opiant’s other pipeline drugs include OPNT002, for alcohol use disorder (AUD), which recently completed enrollment in a Phase 2 study and is on track for a topline readout in mid-2023. 

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Joy Lin

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