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New York Attorney General sues Insys over marketing of opioid painkiller

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a lawsuit against Insys Therapeutics Inc. for illegally marketing its opioid painkiller Subsys.

Insys is already facing multiple federal and state investigations for its alleged role in fueling the U.S. opioid crisis through fraudulent promotion of Subsys.

"At a time when the opioid epidemic was ravaging New York, Insys Therapeutics allegedly marketed a drug illegally by blatantly disregarding the grave risks of addiction and death that opioids pose," Schneiderman said.

The New York investigators said that while Subsys was approved to treat cancer-related severe pain, Insys marketed the drug for much wider use, including flares of mild pain.

Insys allegedly also downplayed Subsys' risk of addictiveness and instead directed its sales team to urge doctors to prescribe Subsys in more expensive higher doses.

The complaint also accused the company of bribing certain healthcare providers by paying them to act as speakers at promotional events.

Schneiderman's office added that Insys formed a business unit devoted solely to securing prior authorization from health plans for as many patients as possible and trained its prior authorization staff to imply that patients had cancer pain, even when they did not.

The lawsuit is seeking up to $75 million in penalties and disgorgement of all revenues accumulated during the period of misconduct.