Insys Therapeutics Inc. agreed to pay $225 million, and an operating unit will plead guilty to fraud, to settle probes into their payment of kickbacks to induce doctors to prescribe highly addictive opioids, the U.S. Department of Justice said yesterday, Reuters reported. Prosecutors said Insys used kickbacks and other illegal marketing practices to boost sales of Subsys, an under-the-tongue spray meant to treat pain in adult cancer patients and that contains fentanyl, an opioid 100 times stronger than morphine. The settlement followed the May 2 conviction by a federal jury in Boston of five former Insys executives, including founder and former billionaire John Kapoor, of racketeering charges for contributing to the nation’s opioid epidemic. Wednesday’s settlement calls for the operating unit, Insys Pharma, to plead guilty to five mail fraud counts. The Chandler, Ariz.-based company will pay a $2 million fine, forfeit $28 million, and pay $195 million to settle charges that it defrauded the government under the False Claims Act.
