Opioid Maker Insys Admits To Bribing Doctors, Agrees To Pay $225 Million Settlement

Insys Therapeutics, an opioid manufacturer, has agreed to pay $225 million to settle the federal government's criminal and civil investigations into the company's marketing practices. As part of the settlement, Insys Therapeutics admitted to bribing doctors to prescribe their opioid painkiller.

Last month, a federal jury in Boston found five top Insys Therapeutics executives guilty of racketeering conspiracy for these same practices. Now, the federal government is holding the company accountable.

In the agreement, the drug maker admitted to orchestrating a nationwide scheme in which they set up a sham "speaker program." Participating doctors were not paid to give speeches, but to write prescriptions of Insys Therapeutics' fentanyl-based medication, Subsys. Often the painkiller was prescribed to patients who did not need it.