Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trial To Begin For Insys Founder Accused Of Engineering Bribes, Kickbacks To Push Powerful Opioid
Boston Globe: Opioid Company Executives Set To Go On Trial In Boston Monday
John N. Kapoor, a onetime billionaire and founder of Arizona-based Insys Therapeutics, is scheduled to go on trial in US District Court in Boston along with four former company executives on charges that they acted more like mobsters than pharmaceutical executives when they sold a brand of fentanyl, a powerful and addictive opioid. In a trial expected to last up to three months, federal prosecutors will try to convince a jury that the five defendants paid bribes and kickbacks to physicians in a nationwide racketeering conspiracy. The payments allegedly induced doctors to prescribe Subsys, an under-the-tongue fentanyl spray approved to treat severe cancer-related pain, for patients who hadn’t been diagnosed with cancer. (Saltzman and Cramer, 1/28)
Bloomberg: Fraud Trial May Make Ex-Insys CEO Kapoor Face Of Opioid Crisis
The first prosecution of a pharmaceutical company chief executive tied to opioid overdoses begins this week, when Insys Therapeutics Inc.’s John Kapoor goes on trial. The fallout may jolt an industry facing steep penalties for its own role in the crisis. Kapoor, 75, is accused of masterminding illegal marketing tactics that contributed to an epidemic of addiction and death. A onetime billionaire who rose from modest means in India, he’s on trial for using speakers’ fees, dinners and cash to lure doctors into prescribing a highly addictive opioid painkiller meant solely for cancer patients. (Feeley, Griffin and Lawrence, 1/27)
The Associated Press: Families Hoping For Justice From Prescription Bribes Trial
Drug company executives weren't satisfied with sales for their powerful painkiller, so they devised a plan, prosecutors say: Offer cash to doctors in exchange for prescriptions. Soon, the highly addictive fentanyl spray was flourishing, and executives were raking in millions. Now, the company's wealthy founder is heading to trial in a case that's putting a spotlight on the federal government's efforts to go after those it says are responsible for fueling the deadly drug crisis. (Richer, 1/25)
Stat: Judge To Rule Next Week On Disclosing Claims About Purdue Pharma
A Massachusetts judge said Friday she would rule by early next week on a request from media organizations, including STAT and the Boston Globe, to make public redacted portions of a lawsuit brought by the Massachusetts attorney general’s office against Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin and other opioid painkillers. The Connecticut company’s aggressive and misleading marketing of OxyContin has been blamed by addiction experts for helping spawn the opioid addiction crisis. Outside the Boston courthouse Friday, families of people who became addicted to opioids after taking Purdue’s medications rallied, with some calling for criminal charges against the company. (Joseph, 1/25)
The Associated Press: Ohio Doc's License Suspended Amid Review Of Hospital Deaths
Ohio's medical board on Friday suspended the license of a doctor accused of ordering excessive and possibly fatal pain medicine for dozens of hospital patients without their families' knowledge. William Husel invoked his right against self-incrimination when he met with board representatives this week and was questioned, including when he was asked whether he purposefully ordered excessive doses to end patients' lives, according to the board's notification letter. (1/25)
The Associated Press: Timeline Shows Investigation Of Alleged Pain Meds Overdosing
Investigations are underway into allegations that a doctor working for an Ohio hospital system ordered inappropriately high doses of pain medication to dozens of patients, leading to the deaths of at least 28 people at two hospitals. A review of events so far based on information provided by Mount Carmel Hospital System, details in lawsuits and accounts from patients' family members. (Welsh-Huggins, 1/26)
Sacramento Bee: Nurse Accused Of Selling 20,000 Opioid Pills Online
Federal agents have arrested a Rancho Cordova nurse in what they describe as a scheme to run an online pharmacy that sold more than 20,000 opioid prescription pills to customers nationwide using dark web internet accounts. Carrie Alaine Markis, 46, was arrested Thursday on charges of conspiracy and distribution of fentanyl and was being held without bail in the Sacramento County Main Jail. (Stanton, 1/25)
