Specialty drugmaker Insys said Monday that it may be forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy because it can't afford the legal costs related to a U.S. Justice Department probe, and its shares plummeted on the news, according to CNBC.
Insys said it had $87.6 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of March, which falls short of the $150 million tentative settlement the company made with the Justice Department to settle claims that it bribed physicians to prescribe Subsys, its opioid-based painkiller.
If Insys is unable to sell its portfolio of opioid-related assets — which it has been attempting to shed for several months — the drugmaker likely will file for bankruptcy. If the bankruptcy filing is made, investors would lose part or all of their investment, the company warned in its first-quarter earnings call.
Insys shares dropped sharply on the news. It was trading under $1 a share May 13, down 75 percent from a May 10 close of $3.60 a share.