Opvee, the nalmefene opioid overdose reversal medication created by Indivior, was billed as a “best-in-class” medication built specifically for the fentanyl era.

It was far more powerful than Narcan, and data suggested it would restore breathing faster.
With the opioid crisis ongoing and opioid settlement funding coming in, Indivior projected annual profits as high as $250 million.

But: The people Opvee was designed to help did not want it.

Barely two years since its launch, Indivior has largely abandoned it. Demand was meager, and the New York attorney general launched an investigation into the company’s sales tactics. In September, the company stopped marketing the medication.

The details:

Harm reduction organizations saw the medication as unnecessary and actively harmful because it could cause severe withdrawal. They also viewed it as overpriced and therefore a waste of opioid settlement and other limited funding.
Indivior did not seek to engage harm reduction groups to promote the medication. Instead, the company launched a lobbying blitz in state legislatures, seeking new laws that required states to offer nalmefene alongside naloxone. Indivior also leaned on law enforcement for using the product, but that fed into rejection of the medication.

The bigger picture: The fall of Opvee highlights the company being out of touch with the community it claimed to serve and the “gold rush” created by the opioid settlement funds. It also raises ethical questions about how overdose response should weigh blunt but potentially lifesaving tools against the need for compassion.