Reckitt Benckiser Pharma Unit In The US Is Raided By The Feds

Several weeks after Reckitt Benckiser signaled its intent to sell its pharmaceutical business, the company has received an intense level of interest – but not from investors. Instead, agents from the US HHS Office of Inspector General, the US Internal Revenue Service and local police raised its offices in Virginia and were seen leaving with numerous boxes of documents, according to television reports. A Reckitt spokesman, meanwhile, sends us this: “We can confirm that federal officers from the US government presented a search warrant at the offices of Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals in Richmond, Virginia, on Tuesday morning, December 3rd. RB is cooperating fully with the investigation, but the officials did not disclose the purpose of the warrant.” The raid comes just as securities analysts downgraded Reckitt (RB.L) stock in the belief that the proposed sale of its pharmaceutical division may yield less than expected (see this). Reckitt, which is based in the UK, two months ago disclosed plans to sell the pharma unit due to declining sales of its Suboxone opioid dependence tablet to focus on growing consumer health and household cleaning products businesses. Earlier this year, you may recall, the FDA rejected a citizen petition the company had filed in hopes of thwarting generic rivals to Suboxone tablet and referred the issue to the US Federal Trade Commission in response to comments filed by generic drug makers that Reckitt had engaged in anticompetitive business pr...
Source: Pharmalot - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs