Opioids, Inc. (FULL film)

Opioids Inc is a FRONTLINE and Financial Times investigation. Pushing opioids. Bribing doctors. Making millions. FRONTLINE and the Financial Times investigate how Insys Therapeutics profited from a fentanyl-based painkiller up to 100 times stronger than morphine. They also look at how some Wall Street investors looked the other way.

The inside story of Opioids Inc

“Opioids, Inc.” tells the inside story of how Insys profited from Subsys. Subsys is a fast-acting fentanyl-based spray that’s been linked to hundreds of deaths.

The tactics included targeting high-prescribing doctors and nurse practitioners known as “whales.” They also included misleading insurers and holding contests for the sales team. The higher the prescription doses the team got doctors to write, the larger the cash prize, despite the dangers to patients.

The documentary traces the scheme in unprecedented detail. In the end, the scheme fell apart. Federal prosecutors used anti-racketeering laws designed to fight organized crime. As a result, Insys became the first pharmaceutical company to have its CEO sentenced to prison time in federal court in connection with the opioid crisis.

Key takeaways

• Insys Therapeutics profited from a fentanyl-based painkiller up to 100 times stronger than morphine.
• Also, tactics included targeting “whales,” misleading insurers, and sales team contests.
• Then, federal prosecutors used anti-racketeering laws against the company.
• Finally, Insys became the first pharmaceutical company to have its CEO sentenced to prison time in federal court in connection with the opioid crisis.

Learn more about the company on Wikipedia.

Related reading on Creative Geniusess

• The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden (FULL film), where FRONTLINE investigates how Trump and Biden responded to crises.
• Growing Up Poor In America, a documentary that follows three children and their families in Ohio.
• Racially Charged: America’s Misdemeanor Problem (Full Documentary), on an enormous abuse of criminal justice power.