Chandler drugmaker settles with one state, faces lawsuit from another
Oct 5, 2017, 4:00 PM
(Screenshot)
(Screenshot)
PHOENIX — A Chandler drugmaker has reached a settlement with the state of Massachusetts the same day it was sued by another state over fraudulent opioid marketing.
Insys Therapeutics agreed to pay $500,000 to Massachusetts. Attorney General Maura Healey said Thursday the company marketed its powerful painkiller spray Subsys for a variety of pain patients even though it’s only approved for use in cancer patients.
New Jersey joined the list of states filing suit against the company. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed suit in August.
Arizona’s suit accused Insys of paying three doctors fake “educational speaker” fees to prescribe Subsys, an opioid spray containing fentanyl.
New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino said that “the conduct alleged in our lawsuit is nothing short of evil.”
Reuters reported that the latest lawsuit also accused Insys of paying fake speaker fees and defrauding insurers.
Former Insys saleswoman Patty Nixon told NBC News in June, “It was absolutely genius. It was wrong, but it was genius.”
The suit also said a prescription led to the death of woman in 2016, who was being treated for fibromyalgia.
Illinois reached a $4.5 million settlement with the company.
When Arizona filed suit, the The company has sold more than $1 billion worth of Subsys.
Insys had said that the marketing of Subsys was appropriate.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
