Insys Therapeutics must face a lawsuit filed by Aetna that accuses the pharmaceutical company of defrauding the insurer into paying claims for the wrong type of opioid, a federal judge ruled Aug. 24, according to Reuters.
In its lawsuit, Aetna claimed Insys defrauded the insurer into paying claims for Subsys. Subsys is an opioid that is supposed to only be prescribed to people with cancer, but was used for other purposes, according to Aetna.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe in Philadelphia was made in one of several lawsuits health insurers have filed against Insys. The lawsuits follow U.S. investigations into how Insys promoted Subsys. Prosecutors accused the drugmaker of paying physicians millions of dollars to prescribe the opioids in an alleged kickback scheme, according to The New York Times Magazine.
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