Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Make a sustaining gift today to support local journalism!

Opioid Spray Maker Agrees to Pay N.H. Nearly $3M in Settlement

  Officials say an Arizona company that makes a spray version of an opioid painkiller for cancer patients has agreed to pay nearly $3 million after New Hampshire investigators determined the drug was being marketed to people who shouldn't be using it.

WMUR-TV reports Insys Therapeutics also agreed to properly market the drug, Subsys, and give $500,000 to combat the state's opioid crisis. Insys doesn't admit wrongdoing.

The spray version of fentanyl is absorbed under the tongue. It's more powerful than heroin.

The state attorney general's office says New Hampshire patients received more than 800 Subsys prescriptions in 2013 and 2014. More than 80 percent were written by a former physician assistant who was paid by Insys to promote the drug at bogus speaking events.

Insys couldn't immediately be reached.

Related Content

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.