Feds join lawsuits claiming Insys used strip club visits, super-doses and more to boost Subsys sales

[nitpicker]

https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/doj-joins-whistleblower-suits-against-insys-over-alleged-opioid-kickback-scheme

Feds join lawsuits claiming Insys used strip club visits, super-doses and more to boost Subsys sales

by Arlene Weintraub | May 15, 2018 11:51am

Prosecutors have already charged Insys founder John Kapoor and won guilty pleas from two characters in an ongoing kickbacks probe. Now, the Justice Department has escalated the case by joining in with whistleblowers who've detailed a stunning range of techniques the company allegedly used to push its powerful opioid painkiller. The DOJ is allying with a half-dozen whistleblowers—among them former Insys employees and workers at a pharmacy benefits manager—who allege the company violated the federal False Claims Act by marketing Subsys for unapproved uses and using free dinners and entertainment to persuade doctors to prescribe more of its fentanyl nasal spray.
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The government’s newly unmasked case alleged that starting in 2012, Insys operated a “sham” speaking program, paying physicians to talk about Subsys to healthcare professionals. In reality, the suit alleges, the speeches didn’t include “substantive” information about the drug.
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The court document goes on to lay out the types of kickbacks Insys allegedly provided, including visits to strip clubs, “lavish” dining and entertainment outings and jobs for relatives and friends of people who prescribed Subsys. It details the actions of more than 19 prescribers and Insys sales representatives, including some who have been convicted for their roles in the company’s alleged kickback schemes.
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The case against Insys revolves around allegations that the company marketed Subsys to treat many types of pain, though it was only FDA-approved for cancer pain. The DOJ’s lawsuit offers examples of Insys training sales representatives to pitch the product for those off-label uses.
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Most of the patients who received Subsys prescriptions weren't cancer patients, the lawsuit alleged. The government is seeking reimbursement for Medicare spending on scripts for patients who shouldn’t have been covered, as well as “recovery of all monies by which Insys has been unjustly enriched.”
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((cross-post from GD))