Articles of Interest

Ex-drug company execs face reckoning in opioid bribery case

Last (Lap) Dance

January 12, 2020 – Prosecutors say officials at Arizona-based Insys Therapeutics paid millions of dollars in bribes to doctors across the country so they would overprescribe Subsys, a fentanyl-based oral spray meant to ease intense pain suffered by cancer patients. 

Insys Therapeutics also deployed other questionable marketing tactics, according to prosecutors. One sales executive, who prosecutors said used to be an exotic dancer, gave a physician a lap dance at a club. And the company misled insurers to get payment for the drug, which cost as much as $19,000 a month.  Following a lengthy trial, Kapoor and four others were convicted last year of racketeering conspiracy. Two other defendants pleaded guilty.Shortly after, the company reached a $225 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice to end its criminal and civil probes.   Insys Therapeutics has since filed for bankruptcy protection, and it’s not clear whether the company will fully pay what’s owed. The company has been approved to sell off Subsys and its other drugs for about $30 million, but the it maintains its assets, all told, are worth only $175 million.

@SeattleTimes

Leonard Buschel

Share
Published by
Leonard Buschel

Recent Posts

Where does that leave marijuana?

TIME WILL TELL – Nov. 11, 2024 - President-elect Donald Trump is expected to come…

2 days ago

Cannabis Use Linked to Epigenetic Changes – Cancer Risk

POT IS SO OBSOLETE – Nov. 15, 2024 -  Cannabis is a “genotoxic” substance because…

2 days ago

Vending Machines Offer Clean Free Needles and Narcan

NPR AUDIO – STICK WITH THE WINNERS!  – Nov. 14, 2024 - “I don’t shoot…

2 days ago

This Book Will Save Your Life: The New Medical Cure for Opioid Addiction

NEW BOOK! READING MATTERS – Nov. 15, 2024 - “This is a pointed and urgent…

2 days ago

15 Incredible Films With Gut-Wrenchingly Depictions of Alcoholism

DON’T MISS THESE – 2023 - 1. “Barfly” (1987) Directed by Barbet Schroeder and based…

2 days ago

My Mom Said 1 Word On Her Deathbed That Made Me Look At My Life In A Different Way

NOT WHAT YOU THINK – Nov. 9, 2024 - She reached out her other hand…

2 days ago