Chandler-based Insys Therapeutics was riding high for several years with a drug it had developed called Subsys. It was made as an under-the-tongue spray that the FDA approved to help dull the pain in cancer patients.
But the financial windfall Subsys brought to Insys started when the drug — which contains fentanyl, a much more powerful alternative to morphine — began being marketed to non-cancer patients. That helped double sales of Subsys to more than $500 million by 2015, three years after it made it to market.
Insys CEO John Kapoor was arrested by federal agents last October on fraud and racketeering charges. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and attorneys general in other states also want to prosecute Kapoor.
Journalist Jimmy Magahern wrote a piece about the company in the January edition of Phoenix Magazine.
Insys is facing a string of lawsuits and many ethical questions. Susan Harmeling is a visiting professor of entrepreneurship at USC’s Marshall School of Business and an expert in business ethics.