Indivior lifts outlook on strong sales of addiction treatments

(Reuters) - Indivior Plc on Wednesday raised its annual revenue and profit forecast, encouraged by strong sales of its opioid addiction treatments in the first half of the year as patients resumed routine visits to clinics and hospitals, sending its shares 10.5% higher in early trade.

The London-listed drugmaker now expects full-year net revenue between $705 million and $740 million, to account for growth in its injectable opioid addiction treatment, Sublocade, and steady sales of its top-selling medicine, Suboxone.

In February, Indivior forecast sales of up to $625 million on the upside that COVID-19 restrictions, which kept patients away from hospitals and limited access to medicines, would be lifted in the second half of the year.

Opioid addiction has been a crisis in the United States, Indivior's biggest market. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said nearly 500,000 people died from opioid overdoses in the United States from 1999 to 2019.

The company also expects Sublocade sales to be in a range of $210 million to $230 million, from $185 million to $210 million estimated earlier, after it received a large order from an unnamed customer in the criminal justice system.

Indivior, spun off from Reckitt in 2014, has been focusing on growing newer treatments including Sublocade, and Perseris for schizophrenia to boost its fortunes. Earlier this month, it expanded into treatments for cannabis-related disorders.

The drugmaker, which was grappling with drawn-out legal challenges and competition even before the coronavirus outbreak hammered the healthcare sector, will report interim results on July 29.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)