Lap-dances, kick-backs, and debt: Infamous opioid maker files for bankruptcy

Enlarge / Insys Therapeutics founder John N. Kapoor leaves federal court in Boston on March 13, 2019. (credit: Getty | Boston Globe)

Opioid manufacturer Insys Therapeutics filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections Monday, just days after pleading guilty to federal fraud charges and agreeing to pay $225 million to settle civil and criminal cases alleging it used kickbacks, bribes, and even a lap dance to sell its extremely potent painkiller.

Insys may be the first major opioid maker to go down in a deluge of lawsuits over the opioid epidemic-it faces more than 1,000 lawsuits from municipal governments. But the bankruptcy throws into question just how much the company will actually pay the federal government from the $225 million deal it made on June 5. Bankruptcy documents show that, as of March 31, Insys had just $175.1 million in assets and $262.5 million already in debt.

In an email to NPR, Insys CEO Andrew G. Long defended the bankruptcy decision, saying, "After conducting a thorough review of available strategic alternatives, we determined that a court-supervised sale process is the best course of action to maximize the value of our assets and address our legacy legal challenges in a fair and transparent manner."

Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments