Declining heroin addiction treatment sales prompt divestment as company focuses on over-the-counter and consumer products

Consumer health firm Reckitt–Benckiser plans to spin off its US pharmaceutical division, whose primary product is heroin-substitute Suboxone (buprenorphine and naloxone) for treating addiction.

Suboxone’s patent protection has expired, and generic competition is eroding the drug’s sales and market share. With Reckitt increasingly focusing on over-the-counter and consumer products, the company has decided that the best option is to divest the business as a separate company, specialising in addiction. Reckitt expects the spin-off to be completed in the next 12 months.

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