Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has reached a $4.5 million settlement with an Arizona-based pharmaceutical company that her office sued for deceptive marketing of an opioid drug meant for cancer patients.
Madigan said Insys Therapeutics Inc. "pushed a highly addictive opioid in complete disregard for patients' health to increase company profits."
The lawsuit she filed last year accused Insys of selling Subsys, a drug significantly more powerful than morphine, to treat a wide variety of pain such as back and neck pain. The drug was not approved for those uses.
Insys officials didn't respond to phone messages left at the company's Phoenix-area office Friday. The company has previously said the marketing of Subsys was appropriate.
Madigan says the $4.5 million will fund drug treatment programs.
