By Pushkala Aripaka
(Reuters) -Opioid addiction treatment maker Indivior is exploring a secondary listing in the United States, its biggest market, after the British company posted a better than expected rise in annual sales buoyed by its newer injectable therapy.
The growth is a boost for Indivior, spun off from Reckitt in 2014, after it grappled with competition and drawn-out legal challenges in recent years over its top-selling drug in the United States, where it makes about 80% of overall sales.
“Our preliminary view is that an additional U.S. listing is likely to be beneficial to the group’s profile and visibility,” Chief Executive Mark Crossley said in a statement https://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/7960B_1-2022-2-15.pdf.
“We are aware that this is an important topic, and the Board and management intend to consult extensively with shareholders before concluding on any future path”.
Indivior shares gained nearly 7% in early trade.
Opioid addiction has been a crisis in the United States. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/basics/epidemic.html nearly 500,000 people died from opioid overdoses in the country from 1999 to 2019.
London-listed Indivior has been focusing on growing newer treatments, including the injectable Sublocade, and has benefited from patients resuming routine visits to clinics and hospitals where most of its treatments have to be administered.
However, the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has disrupted healthcare networks again and caused staff shortages. But Indivior forecast growth for 2022 on the expectation that these challenges would abate.
The drugmaker expects sales of $840 million to $900 million this year.
Revenues in 2021 rose 22% to $791 million, while Indivior posted an operating profit of $213 million compared with a loss of $156 million in 2020, both of which were ahead of analysts’ consensus, according to Jefferies.
Indivior also said that Sublocade was on track to generate more than $1 billion in net annual revenues and become a key growth driver.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and David Evans)
