Polk Residents May Have Claims Against Bankrupt Drug Company

Moody Law in Lakeland and Bartow seeking local patients once prescribed Subsys, a powerful opioid.

LAKELAND — Many Polk County residents may have a claim against a bankrupt drug company if they’ve taken Subsys, a powerful opioid for pain.

Edward Lubin, a former doctor with the Gessler Clinic in Winter Haven, wrote the second highest number of prescriptions in the U.S. for Subsys, manufactured by Insys Therapeutics Inc., said Dan Moody of Moody Law in Lakeland and Bartow.

The federal bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Delaware, has declared Insys bankrupt and is accepting claims against the company, he said. The filing deadline is Sept. 16.

Moody Law can help local residents, particularly Lubin’s former patients, file claims.

“Our office provides free consultation and evaluation of claims,” Moody told The Ledger. “If the client has what appears to be a valid claim which qualifies for the bankruptcy filing, we will obtain the supporting documents, process and file the claim. The claim has to be timely filed before the bar date. Therefore, time is of the essence.”

In May, a federal court in Boston found Insys founder and former executive chairman, John Kapoor, and four other former company executives guilty of bribing doctors to prescribe Subsys and defrauding Medicare and private insurers, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press statement. Earlier two other former Insys executives pleaded guilty to federal charges and testified at the trial.

Moody is also representing a Winter Haven woman in a lawsuit against Gesler and Lubin, who was fired from the clinic in 2016 after learning he had accepted payments from Insys to promote Subsys. The woman claims she developed a dependency on the drug that led to other health problems.

Moody will not charge clients for filing bankruptcy claims. There is a charge if the client receives a payment.

Moody has offices at 1905 U.S. 98 in Lakeland and at 575 N. Broadway Ave. in Bartow. It can be reached at 863-733-9090 or toll free at 877-883-9090.

Kevin Bouffard can be reached at kevin.bouffard@theledger.com or at 863-802-7591.