Less than a month after filing for bankruptcy, embattled opioid drugmaker Insys Therapeutics saw a few bright spots this week, including a reprieve from some of the lawsuits against it, as well as a path forward for regulatory approval of an opioid overdose treatment, Pharma Live reported. Last month, Insys filed for bankruptcy after agreeing to pay about $225 million in fines to the federal government over fraudulent marketing schemes that were used to boost sales of the powerful opioid Subsys. That bankruptcy filing followed a guilty verdict in a trial of former Insys executives, including founder John Kapoor of orchestrating those schemes to boost prescriptions. While that lawsuit is over, there are several still pending in state courts against the company. However, on Tuesday, CNBC reported that five states who have lawsuits against the company agreed to facilitate settlement talks following the company’s filing for bankruptcy. The state lawsuits charge the company with helping to fuel the opioid crisis that has swept across the nation. The agreement between the five states, New York, New Jersey, Arizona, Maryland and Minnesota, and Insys was announced during a bankruptcy hearing this week, CNBC said. The company predicted it might run out of cash several months ago. Only weeks ago, Insys noted in its quarterly report that it had available cash of $87.6 million, which was well below what the company owed from the Subsys litigation, the $225 million it agreed to pay last week, as well as a $150 million agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice the company struck last fall. Insys is aiming for Sept. 2 to file a restructuring plan for court approval.
