Insys Files for Bankruptcy After Settling Case for $225 Million

Arizona-based Insys Therapeutics filed for bankruptcy on June 10 after agreeing to a massive $225 million settlement with the Justice Department for attempting to bribe doctors to prescribe Subsys, a sprayable form of fentanyl. The company went as far as to hire an ex-stripper, Sunrise Lee, to “entice” doctors to prescribe the extremely dangerous opioid-based drug.

The FDA approved Subsys in 2012 for cancer patients to ease their pain, according to the New York Post.  Even though Subsys gained FDA approval, Insys wanted doctors to prescribe “off-label prescriptions” for the medication.

Holly Brown, a former sales rep for Insys, said, “She was sitting on [the doctor’s] lap, kind of bouncing around, and he had his hands all over her, kind of inappropriately.”

Insys has no plans of stopping operations but is in the midst of selling company assets to stay afloat. The sale of assets will be court-supervised.

Andrew Long, a Chief Executive at Insys, said, “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.”

In 2016, Insys donated $500,000 to help defeat Prop 205, the recreational cannabis initiative in Arizona. Then, in 2017, Insys received FDA approval to distribute Syndros, a synthetic form of THC that the company secretly developed.

AP Photo/Steven Senne