Minnesota sues opioid manufacturer Insys over drug marketing

(Reuters) - The state of Minnesota on Wednesday sued Insys Therapeutics Inc, accusing the pharmaceutical manufacturer of illegally marketing a powerful fentanyl-based pain medicine intended for cancer patients for other uses.

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson said the Arizona-based drugmaker encouraged physicians to prescribe its product Subsys to patients who did not have cancer and paid doctors to give them an incentive to do so. The suit was filed in a Minnesota state court.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Will Dunham)

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