Reckitt Heroin Addiction Treatment Seen Luring Shire: Real M&A

Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc’s heroin addiction treatment could tempt drugmakers from Shire Plc to Actavis Plc to bid for the company’s pharmaceuticals unit.

Shire has been on the hunt for deals to ease reliance on its best-seller Vyvanse for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The Dublin-based drugmaker could be a logical buyer for the unit because it has managed competition with generics before and is adept at handling complex U.S. rules to curb illicit use of prescription medicines, Liberum Capital Ltd. said. While generic variants of Reckitt Benckiser’s Suboxone were introduced this year, the drug still dominates the U.S. market and a new injectable treatment is under development.