* Arizona voters have a ballot question in November to legalize marijuana in small quantities. The story has an Illinois angle, so I thought you might like to see it…
The campaign to prevent cannabis legalization in Arizona recently accepted a half-million dollar donation from a pharmaceutical company accused of peddling a dangerous narcotic painkiller off-label.
Drug company Insys made the donation to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy on Aug. 31, according to information posted by the Arizona Secretary of State. The revelation has lent support to longstanding claims by legalization proponents that drug companies view cannabis as a source of competition for their more addictive, dangerous and expensive products. […]
The large donation from Insys to the anti-legalization campaign is particularly notable because the company only markets a single product: Subsys, a sublingual spray form of the synthetic opioid painkiller fentanyl. Fentanyl is stronger than heroin, highly addictive and can cause lethal overdoses. It was fentanyl that led to the accidental death of the musician Prince in April.
In August, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a lawsuit against Insys, accusing the company of promoting Subsys to doctors for off-label uses, in violation of federal drug laws. Madigan claims that the company’s “desire for increased profits led it to disregard patients’ health and push addictive opioids for non-FDA approved purposes.” […]
A 2014 study by researchers from Johns Hopkins University found that states that legalized medical marijuana saw significant drops in opioid overdose deaths.
* From AG Madigan’s press release…
Attorney General Lisa Madigan today filed a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company Insys Therapeutics, Inc. for deceptively marketing and selling Subsys, a highly addictive opioid drug significantly more powerful than morphine and intended exclusively for the treatment of breakthrough cancer pain, to physicians treating non-cancer patients for off-label uses like back and neck pain in an effort to rake in high profits.
Madigan alleges that Insys illegally marketed its painkiller to doctors who prescribed high volumes of opioid drugs instead of focusing its marketing on oncologists treating cancer patients, who are the intended recipients of the drug. Insys’ irresponsible promotion of a prescription opioid is particularly concerning as studies indicate that people who abuse prescription opioids frequently move on to using heroin as a cheaper and more readily available alternative. In fact, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, four out of five new heroin users started their addiction by misusing prescription painkillers.
“This drug company’s desire for increased profits led it to disregard patients’ health and push addictive opioids for non-FDA approved purposes,” Madigan said. “It’s this type of reprehensible and illegal conduct that feeds the dangerous opioid epidemic and is another low for the pharmaceutical industry.”
The lawsuit stems from Madigan’s investigation into allegations that Insys was marketing Subsys broadly as a treatment for breakthrough pain associated with chronic conditions, including back and neck pain, despite the lack of FDA approval for those uses. Insys also pushed doctors to prescribe the higher and more expensive doses of Subsys, contrary to FDA mandates aimed at keeping patients on the lowest effective dose.
Madigan’s investigation revealed that doctors across the country were rewarded for prescribing Subsys to non-cancer patients for off-label uses, including payments for sham speaking events and dinners at expensive restaurants. In Illinois, the top Subsys prescriber was Dr. Paul Madison, who wrote approximately 58 percent of the Subsys prescriptions in the state. Madison is an anesthesiologist who treats few, if any, cancer patients. More than 95 percent of the Subsys prescriptions written by Dr. Madison did not relate to breakthrough cancer pain. Madison was indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago billing insurers for procedures he did not perform.
Madigan’s lawsuit against Insys seeks to permanently bar the company from selling its products in Illinois and impose financial penalties for violating the Consumer Fraud Act. Madigan’s office continues to investigate other opioid manufacturers for similar practices.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 10:24 am:
Pushing legal heroin, blocking legal weed.
Immoral.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 10:31 am:
===Madigan alleges that Insys illegally marketed its painkiller to doctors who prescribed high volumes of opioid drugs instead of focusing its marketing on oncologists treating cancer patients, who are the intended recipients of the drug.===
This is a really good story and if the allegations are true, I hope the AG prevails.
Also, it would appear that, as part of this investigation, the Attorney General’s office now has a list of doctors who have been prescribing a lot of opioids. Most are legit, but something tells me there are more than a few nervous doctors out there today.
- Anon - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 10:53 am:
===seeks to permanently bar the company from selling its products in Illinois and impose financial penalties for violating the Consumer Fraud Act.===
She’s pretty good at her job.
- Fairness and Fairness Only - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 10:56 am:
I’d like to see the AG’s office tee up that list for high prescription Opiod doctors with Medicare and Medicaid practices. Where there is smoke, there is usually fire. Medicare fraud laws have powerful teeth.
- Cook County Commoner - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:02 am:
from the anecdotal evidence I get from my older crowd, medical marijuana is providing remarkable relief from fibromyalgia and some synptoms of MS. This must be scaring the wits out of big pharma, and its lobbyists will do anything, pay anything to reverse the med marijuana trend.
- James Knell - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:10 am:
Sounds like a justified investigation to me.
- yeah - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:27 am:
People with epilepsy prefer cannabis to barbiturates; no liver damage or need to sleep so much.
- phocion - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:29 am:
Big pharma is way too powerful. And immoral. From Shkreli to EpiPens to pushing addictive prescription drugs over non-addictive medical marijuana. Absolutely shameless and wrong.
- Archiesmom - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:41 am:
They would love marijuana legalization if they had a patent on it.
Big Pharma is easily the most corrupt industry, and they spend the most money on lobbyists to keep it that way. This is an industry in dire need of policing.
- @MisterJayEm - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:59 am:
Remember when folks used to characterize marijuana as “a gateway drug” to more dangerous and addictive narcotics? What a laugh.
Off-label treatments are the gateway to Big Pharma’s dangerous and addictive narcotics, so they’ve got no use for poor ol’ Mary Jane.
– MrJM
- Payback - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:09 pm:
I don’t know a thing about opioids. The only thing we had in high school was “nickel bags” ($5.00 worth) of “Acapulco gold” or “Colombian Gold” (which was the top notch stuff at the time.) No one could afford anything else, we were poor then. I didn’t see or hear about coke until college. The frat boys had more money.
But if I remember correctly, one of my professors told us that the Pharmaceutical industry worldwide had the largest profit margin of any legally regulated industry on the planet. In other words, manufacture a product for $1.00, then sell it for $100.00. He said no other industry had such large markups.
AG Madigan is a sharp cookie. This is interesting stuff. I have a feeling she is really flipping over some rocks here.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:13 pm:
Good for AG Madigan
- JS Mill - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:34 pm:
=No one could afford anything else,=
No worries for pain killers these days. Doctors prescribe them like they are PEZ. That is how kids get them. In schools, it is easier to get Oxycodone than beer.
- anon - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 1:46 pm:
If the AG’s accusations against Insys are true, it’s a powerful example of why government regulation is indispensable to protect public health from corporate greed.
- frisbee - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 2:29 pm:
Glad to see the AG going after this company. I’ve lost too many friends over the past decade to opioids and it always started with pills and then transitioned to heroin. Now that the money is on the table of Big Pharma opposing re-legalizing the herb people can finally connect the dots between Big Pharma and why a plant is still illegal in this free country.
- Homer J. Quinn - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 2:54 pm:
this also illustrates why the DEA is making kratom schedule 1 at the end of this month. kratom is the leaf of a tropical tree related to the coffee plant. it’s used for helping people safely break their opioid addictions, yet the DEA is placing it in the same category as cannabis and heroin. why does the DEA want people to remain addicted to opioids? see above.
- Freezeup - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 5:38 pm:
I was never before convinced that “Big Pharma” gave a hoot about cannabis. I’m a whole lot closer to that conclusion now.
Is the Compassionate Cannabis program working? Are patients able to buy at a reasonable price? I would really like to know the price of our State grown vs. quality black market cannabis from California or Colorado. Seems to me that it’ is important to keep prices similar or compassionate care cannabis cheaper.