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Tag: Insys Therapeutics

  • Fentanyl Spray Maker Files For Chapter 11 After Massive Opioid Settlement

    Fentanyl Spray Maker Files For Chapter 11 After Massive Opioid Settlement

    The bankruptcy filing comes just days after Insys Therapeutics agreed to pay a $225 million settlement for the unlawful marketing of its fentanyl spray.

    Insys Therapeutics admitted to unlawfully promoting its fentanyl spray, Subsys, but it is now seeking bankruptcy protection, which could lessen the blow that the federal government was hoping to inflict on the company for its unsavory deeds.

    Insys filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, asking the court to allow the sale of company assets to cover more than $250 million in debts, just five days after agreeing to pay a multi-million dollar settlement with the federal government. This is the first time a drug company has sought bankruptcy protection for a legal case stemming from the national opioid crisis.

    Chapter 11 is normally filed by businesses seeking the help of the court to restructure debts and obligations, as explained by Investopedia: “In cases involving fraud, dishonesty or gross incompetence, a court-appointed trustee steps in to run the company throughout the entire bankruptcy proceedings. The business is not able to make some decisions without the permission of the courts.” These include the sale of assets.

    “After conducting a thorough review of available strategic alternatives, we determined that a court-supervised sale process is the best course of action to maximize the value of our assets and address our legacy legal challenges in a fair and transparent manner,” said Insys CEO Andrew G. Long in a statement.

    Companies like United Airlines, General Motors and K-mart have managed to stay in business after filing for Chapter 11.

    If Insys is granted Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, it may continue to operate as it figures out a plan to pay for legal expenses—including more than $11 million to defend the company’s founder John Kapoor, who was one of five former Insys executives who were convicted in May of widespread racketeering conspiracy relating to the marketing of Subsys.

    Kapoor is among the highest ranking pharmaceutical executives to be convicted as a result of the opioid crisis, NPR noted. He is expected to receive sentencing in September.

    Bankruptcy protection could mean that the federal government will not receive the full amount owed by Insys in the civil settlement: $195 million.

    In total, the sum of the money owed in both the criminal and civil resolutions amounts to $225 million.

    The company has admitted to orchestrating a scheme to unlawfully promote Subsys—a drug 100 times stronger than morphine—that involved bribing doctors.

    “For years, Insys engaged in prolonged, illegal conduct that prioritized its profits over the health of the thousands of patients who relied on it,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling in a June 5 statement.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Florida Sues CVS, Walgreens For Their Alleged Roles In Opioid Crisis

    Florida Sues CVS, Walgreens For Their Alleged Roles In Opioid Crisis

    The suit claims that the companies failed to stop “suspicious orders of opioids,” and dispensed “unreasonable quantities” of such drugs.

    The state of Florida has named two of the largest drugstore chains in the United States—Walgreens and CVS—as well as Insys Therapeutics, in a lawsuit that alleged that they “played a role in creating the opioid crisis.”

    Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a press release stating that the pharmacy giants and Insys, which manufactured the fentanyl-based medication Subsys had been added to a state-court lawsuit filed on May 15, 2016 against Purdue Pharma, L.P.—the manufacturer of OxyContin—and other pharmaceutical manufacturers for allegedly contributing to the opioid epidemic with their opioid-based products.

    The suit against CVS and Walgreens alleges that the companies failed to stop “suspicious orders of opioids,” and dispensed “unreasonable quantities” of such drugs from their locations.

    In the complaint, the Attorney General’s Office alleged that Walgreens Co.—the largest drugstore chain in the nation—has distributed vast amounts of opioids throughout the state of Florida, and in some cases, reportedly distributed millions of pills that far outnumbered town populations.

    The suit cites an unidentified Florida town where the Walgreens location is alleged to have sold 285,000 pills in a single month to a town with just 3,000 people.

    According to the suit, some stores reportedly experienced six-fold sales growth for pills in just two years time. Walgreens previously paid a record settlement of $80 million in 2013 for violations of record-keeping and dispensing regulations that allowed oxycodone and other pain medications to be diverted for black market sales.

    The accusations against CVS Healthcare Corp. and CVS Pharmacy, Inc.—the second largest U.S. drugstore chain—claim that the company sold more than 700 million opioid products between 2006 and 2014, including three towns that received and dispensed “huge quantities” of opioids during that time frame.

    CVS also paid $22 million to resolve allegations by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that retail stores in the town of Sanford, Florida sold painkillers that were not prescribed for “legitimate medical purposes.”

    The suit’s allegations against Insys Therapeutics echo similar charges levied against the troubled pharmaceutical firm, which has been accused of paying doctors to prescribe Subsys, a medication for patients with breakthrough cancer pain, to patients without cancer or similar diagnoses.

    The suit cites public records that showed that Insys paid $18.7 million to doctors between August 2013 and December 2016, including one Florida physician who received $270,000 from the company.

    According to data from the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, more prescriptions for Subsys were written in Florida than in any other state.

    A spokesperson for CVS labeled the lawsuit “without merit” and said that in recent years, the company “has taken numerous actions to strengthen our existing safeguards to help address the nation’s opioid epidemic.”

    View the original article at thefix.com