Federal bankruptcy watchdogs turned a cold shoulder to states and cities battling the opioid epidemic, denying them seats on the official committee representing creditors of drugmaker Insys Therapeutics Inc., WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Lawyers for states and towns across the U.S. were sent packing early Wednesday at a meeting in Wilmington, Del., where a bankruptcy overseer from the Justice Department was picking which creditors will have the loudest voice in the first chapter 11 filing stemming from the opioid crisis. “Obviously, we are very disappointed. We wanted to be on that committee,” said Wesley Duke, a Kentucky deputy attorney general. The states and cities will explore other options, he said, adding that the lack of a committee seat won’t stop Kentucky from protecting its interests. The committee will weigh in on legal questions that could sway future drug company decisions on whether to resort to bankruptcy. Court rulings that rein in government creditors could make chapter 11 a more attractive option for many. As corporate bankruptcies go, Insys is a midsize case with about $37 million in cash and a business that has been tarnished by multiple criminal convictions. The company is putting its assets up for sale while contending with an onslaught of claims from government bodies, individuals and insurers alleging it profited from fueling opioid addiction. The proceedings are being closely watched across the drug industry as a blueprint for a potential bankruptcy filing by Purdue Pharma LP, which is considering filing for chapter 11 to cope with lawsuits and investigations surrounding its OxyContin painkiller. “Insys is the test case for Purdue,“ said Nicholas Kajon, a lawyer representing health-insurance buyers who allege that Insys inflated health-care costs by pushing the opioid Subsys.
