By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Daily Star
The state’s top prosecutor is charging a major Arizona manufacturer of opioids of using unfair and deceptive marketing practices designed to pad company profits at the expense of patient safety.
A lawsuit filed late Wednesday in Maricopa County Superior Court claims Insys Therapeutics engaged in a nationwide scheme to deceive patients, doctors and insurers about the safety of Subsys, its sublingual spray form of the powerful opioid fentanyl.
“Insys lied to insurers, concealed key facts from doctors and patients, and paid doctors sham ‘speaker fees’ in exchange for writing prescriptions, all in order to increase the sales of Subsys, without regard for the health and safety of patients,” charged Attorney General Mark Brnovich. “Insys made hundreds of millions of dollars from its deceptive scheme but also put countless patients in harm’s way, exposing them to unacceptable and unnecessary risks of addiction and death.”
