Opponents of legal marijuana in Arizona got a recent financial boost from Insys Therapeutics, the maker of Subsys, a fentanyl spray currently used for treating pain in cancer patients. Fentanyl is the same drug Prince allegedly overdosed on and is known to be more addictive than heroin. Medical marijuana is known to relieve pain and nausea in cancer patients and Insys Therapeutics apparently doesn’t want the competition. From the Arizona Capitol Times:
Reports filed with the secretary of state’s office show Insys Therapeutics, whose sole product is an opiate spray to treat pain for cancer patients, gave $500,000 to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy. That is nearly four times more than the second largest donation of $110,000 from the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry to try to defeat Proposition 205.
J.P. Holyoak, who chairs the committee pushing the initiative, said the interest of pharmaceutical companies in keeping marijuana illegal comes down to protection of profits. He said firms don’t want the competition.
“They want to be able to push their far more addictive, far more harmful and far more dangerous opioid drugs,” Holyoak said. He said that is particularly true of a company like Insys whose business relies solely on a single product that has received federal approval: Subsys, a sublingual fentanyl spray.
The fentanyl spray is currently the only available product from Insys Therapeutics, but there are other products in development, which motivated a Forbes investment strategist to recommend investing:
Ken Kam: Insys has had a nice run since you recommended it. How big can Syndros be for Insys?
Todd Hagopian: This week, the FDA approved Syndros, which will be INSY’s 2nd FDA-approved Cannabis-based drug. Syndros is an appetite-boosting drug, which will help people dealing with Cancer, or AIDS-related weight loss. The sales forecast for this drug are in the hundreds of millions, and should effectively double the revenue of the company over the next few years.
Kam: Are you buying or selling Insys on this news?
Hagopian: My $32 price target was based off of $500M in annual sales, a number which should be relatively reasonable given this second approved drug. My $32 price target is about a 100% increase to today’s selling price, making this stock still a bargain
Since 1999, more than 165,000 Americans have died from opiate overdoses. A record number of Arizonans found themselves in emergency rooms due to opiate overdoses. And yet, here’s the message Insys and likeminded Arizona businesses are trying to scare the public with as they head toward a vote in November:
Contrast that with the number of deaths attributed to marijuana last year in Arizona and ask yourself—where is the real danger lurking?