Drug Maker Insys Accused of Sparking the Opioid Epidemic by Bribing Doctors and Promising Kickbacks
When John Kapoor, former CEO of Insys Therapeutics Inc. maker of Subsys was arrested on racketeering conspiracy and other charges recently, he became the highest ranking pharmaceutical executive to be accused of a crime related to the opioid crisis, which his company and other Big Pharma companies helped to fuel with their incredibly powerful and wildly addictive pain killing drugs.
On the same day that President Trump declared that opioid abuse in the United States has become a national public health emergency, Kapoor was being arrested in Arizona. About Kapoor’s arrest and the arrest of the other Insys executives who were also charged, FBI agent, Harold Shaw said, “Selling a highly addictive opioid-cancer pain drug to patients who did not have cancer makes them no better than street-level drug dealers.”
A story in Bloomberg News tells of how in 2012, when Insys’ new oral pain-relieving sublingual spray containing the opioid pain drug fentanyl was not selling well, Kapoor and other executives at Insys came up with elaborate marketing schemes to boost drug sales. They allegedly paid millions in speaker fees to doctors, they paid for food and entertainment and other perks and then they allegedly began bribing doctors to prescribe Subsys while tricking patients’ insurance companies into paying for it.
The Bloomberg story says that prosecutors in Connecticut have initiated a criminal probe of Purdue Pharmaceutical, while several states, cities and counties have sued the major pharmaceutical manufacturers such as Purdue, Endo International Plc. Janssen Pharmaceuticals for triggering the current opioid crisis in the U.S. In the New York Times, William D. Weinreb, acting US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts said that the charges reflected a commitment on the part of authorities to combat the opioid abuse epidemic.
While all of this drama surrounding Kapoor’s arrest plays out, Insys continues to operate and they are working on developing a drug that would reverse an opioid overdose.
The defective drug attorneys at McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, LLC are committed to helping those who sustained injuries because of Subsys, and the actions of Insys Therapeutics. You can learn more about our services by calling 803-327-7800, or fill out our contact form.
Randy is the former President of the South Carolina Association for Justice. He has been certified by the American Board of Professional Liability as a specialist in Medical Malpractice Law which is recognized by the South Carolina Bar. Randy has also been awarded the distinction of being a “Super Lawyer” 10 times in the last decade. He has over 25 years of experience helping injured people fight back against corporations, hospitals and wrong-doers.
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