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The founder of one of the country’s largest pharmaceutical firms has been arrested and charged with bribing doctors to prescribe unnecessary opioid treatments to boost his company’s profits. John Kapoor, majority owner of Insys Therapeutics, has been charged with conspiracy, along with a number of other felonies including conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Six other executives at Insys have also been charged with assorted crimes in connection with the case.
The indictment alleges that Kapoor and his fellow executives conspired to bribe medical practitioners across many states to prescribe the company’s fentanyl-based medical spray Subsys. The drug was only approved by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of cancer, but the Justice Department claims that doctors were offered payments and kickbacks to prescribe the medication to as many patients as possible, many of whom were cancer-free.
“As alleged, Insys executives improperly influenced health care providers to prescribe a powerful opioid for patients who did not need it, and without complying with FDA requirements, thus putting patients at risk and contributing to the current opioid…
