Arizona-Based Insys Therapeutics Founder, Executives Convicted of Racketeering

Executives bribed doctors and pharmacists to prescribe fentanyl spray meant for breakthrough cancer pain

The billionaire founder of Insys founder and former Executive Chairman John N. Kapoor, age 76, of Phoenix has been convicted by a federal jury of RICO conspiracy.

Richard M. Simon, age 48, of Seal Beach, Calif., the former National Director of Sales; Sunrise Lee, 38, of Bryant City, Mich., a former Regional Sales Director; Joseph A. Rowan, 45, of Panama City, Fla., a former Regional Sales Director; and Michael J. Gurry, 55, of Scottsdale, and the former Vice President of Managed Markets, were also convicted by a federal jury of RICO conspiracy.

Sentencing dates have not yet been set.

The men were convicted on Thursday by a federal jury in Boston in connection with bribing medical practitioners to prescribe Subsys, a highly-addictive sublingual fentanyl spray intended for cancer patients experiencing breakthrough pain, and for defrauding Medicare and private insurance carriers.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, from May 2012 to December 2015, the men conspired to bribe practitioners, many of whom operated pain clinics, in order to induce them to prescribe Insys’ fentanyl-based pain medication, Subsys, to patients often when medically unnecessary.

The men used pharmacy data to identify practitioners who either prescribed unusually high volumes of rapid-onset opioids, or had demonstrated a capacity to do so, and bribed and provided kickbacks to the practitioners to increase the number of new Subsys prescriptions, and to increase the dosage and number of units of Subsys. The men also measured the success of their criminal enterprise by comparing the net revenue earned from targeted practitioners with the total value of bribes and kickbacks paid. They used this information to reduce or eliminate bribes paid to practitioners who failed to meet satisfactory prescribing requirements, which they determined to be the net revenue equal to at least twice the amount of bribes paid to the practitioner.

The bribes and kickbacks took multiple forms. In March 2012, Insys began using “speaker programs” purportedly intended to increase brand awareness of Subsys through peer-to-peer educational lunches and dinners. However, the programs were used as a vehicle to pay bribes and kickbacks to targeted practitioners in exchange for increased Subsys prescriptions and increased dosage. In most instances, the programs were shams.

The men also conspired to mislead and defraud health insurance providers who were reluctant to approve payment for the drug when it was prescribed for non-cancer patients. The defendants conspired to achieve this by setting up the “Insys Reimbursement Center,” (IRC) which was dedicated to obtaining prior authorization for payment directly from insurers and pharmacy benefit managers. Beginning in October 2012, employees of the IRC posed as employees of the practitioner and used “the spiel” – a script of false and misleading representations about patient diagnoses in order to secure approval for the drug by the insurance provider. For example, since insurers were more likely to authorize payment for Subsys if a patient was being treated for cancer-related pain, IRC employees were instructed to mislead insurers regarding the true diagnosis of the patient.

About ADINews Service 1692 Articles
Under the leadership of Arizona Daily Independent Editor In Chief Huey Freeman, our team of staff reporters work tirelessly to bring the latest, most accurate news to our readers.