Alec Burlakoff, the former Vice President of Sales for the Chandler-based opioid manufacturer Insys Therapeutics will pay $9.5 million to settle a consumer fraud lawsuit filed by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
In the lawsuit it is alleged that in August 2017, Burlakoff, Insys Therapeutics, and others created and operated a scheme in which Insys paid doctors lucrative “speaker fees” in exchange for the doctors writing prescriptions for Insys’ flagship drug, Subsys,” according to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
As part of the settlement, Burlakoff admits he unlawfully used the Insys speaker program to compensate doctors for prescribing Subsys, a fentanyl drug manufactured by Insys Therapeutics. Burlakoff also admits that doctors, who expressed a willingness to write Subsys prescriptions in exchange for payment, were targeted for participation in the speaker program.