Schuette joins multi-state lawsuit against Suboxone maker

LANSING — Michigan’s Attorney General has joined over thirty other states in a lawsuit against the maker of the drug Soboxone.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced his participation in the suit today. The suit alleges that Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals, now known as Indivior, conspired with MonoSol Rx to switch the drug from a tablet version to a film that dissolves in the mouth in order to prevent or delay generic alternatives — thus maintaining monopoly profits. Schuette says this conduct — called “product hopping” — would violate both state and federal antitrust laws.

Suboxone is a prescription drug used to treat addiction to heroin and other opioids.