Company Statements

Indivior Statement on the Biden Administration’s National Drug Control Strategy

The Administration calls for expanded access to evidence-based treatment for substance use disorder

Richmond, VA, April 28, 2022 - Indivior PLC (LON: INDV) today released the following statement regarding the Biden Administration’s inaugural National Drug Control Strategy.1 The strategy specifically highlights the need to increase access to evidence-based treatment for Americans suffering from substance use disorder (SUD), among other solutions.1

“The Biden administration lays out very clear policy goals to slow the dangerous rise in substance misuse in this country, including expanded access to medication-assisted treatment options for people suffering from substance use disorder to close the 80% treatment gap2 that exists in the United States,” said Mark Crossley, Chief Executive Officer, Indivior. “The drug epidemic has claimed over 100,000 lives in the most recent 12-month period, with approximately 80,000 of these deaths resulting from the misuse of opioids containing illicit fentanyl and fentanyl analogues.3 Increasing access to evidence-based treatments is a critical step to help people struggling with the chronic disease of opioid and substance use disorder.”

In its National Drug Control Strategy, the Biden Administration pledges to work with Congress to “eliminate the outdated requirements and overregulation that prevents widespread use of buprenorphine products for OUD treatment by licensed medical treatment providers.”1 The administration also calls for increased training on the use of these medications.1

The Strategy highlights the need to build a more robust treatment infrastructure and workforce to ensure patients have access to the evidence-based treatments they need.1 This includes recruiting a diverse workforce that resembles the community it serves. Finally, the Administration specifically calls for improved access to evidence-based treatment options for people in a criminal justice setting, including ensuring a continuity of care upon transitioning into their communities when the risk of overdose is highest.1

References:

  1. National-Drug-Control-2022Strategy.pdf (whitehouse.gov), Accessed April 2022
  2. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2021). Key substance use and mental health indicators in the United States: Results from the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (HHS Publication No. PEP20-07-01-001, NSDUH Series H-55). Rockville, MD: Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Retrieved from https://www.samhsa.gov/data/ 
  3. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm, Accessed April 2022
  4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health. Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 18-5063PT5, Printed 2018.