[ad_1]
The founder of Insys Therapeutics, John Kapoor, leaves the federal court in Boston on Jan. 30. On Monday, the company filed for bankruptcy in Chapter 11, stating that it had to sell its assets to repay its creditors. Kapoor, who was convicted of racketeering last month, owns more than 63 percent of the company.
Steven Senne / AP
hide legend
activate the legend
Steven Senne / AP
The founder of Insys Therapeutics, John Kapoor, leaves the federal court in Boston on Jan. 30. On Monday, the company filed for bankruptcy in Chapter 11, stating that it had to sell its assets to repay its creditors. Kapoor, who was convicted of racketeering last month, owns more than 63 percent of the company.
Steven Senne / AP
The opioid manufacturer Insys Therapeutics has sought Chapter 11 protection from bankruptcy, just five days after agreeing to pay $ 225 million to settle the federal and civil lawsuits filed against the company by the federal government. for having bribed doctors to prescribe his fentanyl pain reliever.
In documents filed Monday, Insys asked the court to allow him to sell his assets to pay more than $ 250 million in debt. But the move also means that the government can not collect all the money from the settlement that is owed to it.
"After a thorough review of available strategic alternatives, we determined that a court-supervised sales process was the best way to maximize the value of our assets and solve our legacy legal issues in a fair and transparent manner." said Insys chief executive Andrew G. Long said in a statement by e-mail.
The Phoenix-based company has listed assets slightly above $ 175 million and a debt of $ 262.5 million as at March 31. According to the filing of the petition, the founder, John Kapoor, holds 63.2% of the company.
This is the first time that a drug manufacturer is seeking to protect itself from bankruptcy because of a lawsuit related to the opioid crisis. Under Chapter 11, the company will be able to continue operating – employees and pay sellers – by developing a plan to pay increasing legal fees, including more than $ 11 million spent on defending Kapoor against government criminal charges, according to court documents.
Kapoor and four other senior executives of the company were convicted of widespread racket conspiracy last month.
The bankruptcy filing also follows Insys' guilty plea last week against five charges of mail and admission fraud that she allegedly bribed doctors to increase sales of the powerful and highly provocative opioid an addiction, Subsys. The sublingual spray has been developed as an anti-pain medication for adult patients with cancer who are already tolerant to opioid treatment 24 hours a day.
The scam involved paying doctors via a fake "speaker program" between 2012 and June 2015. The company's employees asked doctors to prescribe the drug, which is 100 times more powerful than morphine, in large doses and often to people who do not need it. They also lied to the insurance companies to make sure they would meet the requirements of the Subsys, which can cost $ 10,000 a month or more.
In case of bankruptcy, the government will become one of the creditors of the company. It is unclear how much of the $ 195 million the government will collect in the civil settlement reached last week. However, the company will remain liable for the $ 28 million set in the Penal Code, regardless of Chapter 11 protection, a spokeswoman for the US Attorney's Office in Boston told NPR.
The lawsuits against Insys are part of the government's efforts to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for the opioid epidemic.
WGBH journalist Gabrielle Emanuel contributed to this story.
[ad_2]
Source link