Five states have agreed to facilitate settlement talks by dropping objections to a bid by Insys Therapeutics in bankruptcy court to put on hold their lawsuits alleging the drugmaker helped fuel the opioid epidemic.
The agreement was announced on Tuesday by a lawyer for Chandler, Arizona-based Insys during a hearing before a federal bankruptcy judge in Wilmington Delaware, who was set to consider whether to block the states from moving forward with their cases.
Insys requested the injunction when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on June 10, becoming the first drugmaker accused in lawsuits by state and local governments of contributing to the deadly opioid epidemic to do so.
Insys filed for bankruptcy days after striking a $225 million settlement with the Justice Department resolving claims it paid doctors bribes to prescribe Subsys, the company’s addictive fentanyl spray.
