Insurance giant takes Insys to court for 'creative, fraudulent, and illegal' opioid promotio

Fierce Pharma ------- Already under a number of investigations from state and federal authorities for its Subsys marketing, beleaguered Insys Therapeutics now faces yet another legal challenge. In a new lawsuit filed this week, insurance giant Anthem alleged the pain drugmaker managed a “creative, fraudulent, and illegal” scheme for several years to secure millions in improper reimbursements for the powerful opioid Subsys. According to the lawsuit, Insys management knew the off-label market for Subsys would be far more lucrative than the drug’s legal use to manage breakthrough pain from cancer. So Insys execs created a two-step system designed to maximize sales, Anthem says. First, according to Anthem, the drug company paid docs to write scripts for its under-the-tongue opioid spray through speaking fees at “sham” events. Then, the company created an in-house reimbursement team, Anthem says, which submitted “decidedly false and misleading” information to win coverage for those Subsys scripts. To learn more click on the picture below to read the article.