NC attorney general sues multi-billion-dollar drug company over opioid crisis

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WSOC) — North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein announced Thursday that he’s suing a multi-billion-dollar drug company because of a scheme to promote a potent opioid drug.

In the lawsuit, Stein accused drug manufacturer Insys Therapeutics of an extensive scheme involving kickbacks, deception and fraud in the marketing of the drug Subsys.

Subsys is a spray form of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. It’s a powerful, addictive drug, usually used to treat cancer patients.

The lawsuit alleges that the drug made the opioid crisis worse in Charlotte.

“As millions of Americans were — and communities were — struggling to respond, we allege that Insys unlawfully pushed these painkillers on North Carolina patients just to make more money,” Stein said.

Stein’s announcement comes as a new government report shows opioids are killing more Americans, driving a decline in U.S. life expectancy for the second year in a row.

Drug overdose deaths jumped 21 percent in 2016, with 63,000 total.