Indivior Recognizes National Recovery Month, Commits to Helping Move People living with Opioid Use Disorder onto a Path to Hope and Recovery

RICHMOND, Va., Sept. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Indivior PLC INDV September is National Recovery Month, a time to educate about substance use disorder (SUD) and the effectiveness of evidence-based treatment and counseling, and let people know that recovery is possible.

Substance use disorder is a chronic disease which affects a person's brain and behavior, leaving them unable to control their use of substances such as legal or illegal drugs, alcohol, or medications.¹ It is also a disease of epidemic proportion; according to the latest provisional data released by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), more than 104,000 people reportedly died from a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending March 2022, with 78,828 of these deaths resulting from illicit opioids, like fentanyl.² 

"At Indivior, we are committed to helping those suffering with substance use disorders break the cycle of addiction," said Christian Heidbreder, Chief Scientific Officer. "By reducing stigma, increasing access to evidence-based treatment, and normalizing substance use disorder as a disease, we can move more people on the path to active recovery and help them to reclaim their lives."

Despite the significant progress made during the last two decades defining addiction as a disease, advancing our understanding of how it affects the brain, and advocating for evidence-based treatment, recent estimates suggest that only 13.4 percent of people nationwide who may benefit from medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) receive it.³ People in urgent need of help are often unaware of their treatment options, have limited access to treatment and counseling, or simply do not seek it out because they are afraid of being stigmatized.⁴  Lack of access to treatment continues to drive the treatment gap, especially among under-served and marginalized communities.⁵

"Recovery from substance use disorder is possible," said Terry Horton, MD, FACP, FASAM, Vice President, Patient Insights and Advocacy at Indivior. "But advocacy and patient support are critically important," he continued. "As stakeholders, our policy response to the opioid epidemic should seek to normalize treatment and categorize addiction like any other chronic medical condition. Only then can we transform access to treatment, resource it, and deliver it to the people who need it most."

Indivior looks toward a future where there is no longer a stigma of addiction and where people have access to evidence-based treatment for SUD in order to manage it like other chronic diseases.

More information on National Recovery Month can be found here.

Indivior is a global pharmaceutical company working to help change patients' lives by developing medicines to treat substance use disorders (SUD) and serious mental illnesses. Our vision is that all patients around the world will have access to evidence-based treatment for the chronic conditions and co-occurring disorders of SUD. Indivior is dedicated to transforming SUD from a global human crisis to a recognized and treated chronic disease. Building on its global portfolio of OUD treatments, Indivior has a pipeline of product candidates designed to both expand on its heritage in this category and potentially address other chronic conditions and co-occurring disorders of SUD, including alcohol use disorder and cannabis use disorder. Headquartered in the United States in Richmond, VA, Indivior employs more than 900 individuals globally and its portfolio of products is available in over 40 countries worldwide. Visit www.indivior.com to learn more. Connect with Indivior on LinkedIn by visiting www.linkedin.com/company/indivior.

^1.  Substance Use and Co-Occurring Mental Disorders. (n.d.). National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/substance-use-and-mental-health#:%7E:text=A%20substance%20use%20disorder%20(SUD,drugs%2C%20alcohol%2C%20or%20medications
^2.  https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm, Accessed on August 24, 2022
^3.  Krawczyk N, Rivera BD, Jent V, Keyes KM, Jones CM, Cerdá M. Has the treatment gap for opioid use disorder narrowed in the U.S.?: A yearly assessment from 2010 to 2019". Int J Drug Policy. 2022 Jul 19:103786. Epub ahead of print.
^4.  National Drug Control Strategy, The White House, Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2022
^5.  National-Drug-Control-2022Strategy.pdf (whitehouse.gov)
^6.  NIDA. 2021, August 31. Drug overdose deaths in 2020 were horrifying. Radical change is needed to address the drug crisis. Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/noras-blog/2021/08/drug-overdose-deaths-in-2020-were-horrifying-radical-change-needed-to-address-drug-crisis

SOURCE Indivior