The Double Whammy That Sent Marijuana Stock Insys Therapeutics Crashing as Much as 30%

Shares of Insys Therapeutics (NASDAQ: INSY), a small-cap biotech with a focus on pain management, plunged as much as 30% on Wednesday after receiving a double whammy. One whammy was the arrest of the company's founder; another was negative commentary from President Trump regarding opioids in general.

As very quick background: Insys' troubled lead drug Subsys, a synthetic opioid, has seen its sales slashed in half over the past two years, following allegations and lawsuits that management and its marketing team knowingly and willingly marketed the sublingual spray (approved to treat breakthrough cancer pain) for off-label indications. Some allegations suggest that up to 80% of Subsys' sales were for off-label uses. Insys has already been sued by the attorneys general of Massachusetts and New Jersey; it recently settled with Massachusetts for $500,000.

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Source: Fool.com