Indian American man to be sentenced for pushing opioid

Boston: John Kapoor, an Indian-origin Founder of Pharmaceutical Company, is set to be sentenced in Boston for pushing opioid for representational purpose.

Kapoor, the 76-year-old former chairman of Insys Therapeutics, was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy last May after a trial that lasted 10 weeks and led to 15 days of jury deliberation.

Prosecutors are requesting a sentence of 15 years in prison, while Kapoor’s attorneys say he deserves no more than a year and a day, the media reported.

Kapoor and others were accused of paying millions of dollars in bribes to doctors across the nation to prescribe the company’s highly addictive oral fentanyl spray, known as Subsys.

During his trial, jurors heard from former employees who testified that Insys made a habit of hiring attractive women as representatives to boost sales of the drug. One former sales representative testified that a regional sales manager once gave a lap dance at a Chicago nightclub to a doctor Insys was pushing to write more prescriptions.

“They were also accused of misleading insurers to get payment approved for the drug, which is meant to treat cancer patients in severe pain and can cost as much as $19,000 a month,” said the report.

Kapoor’s lawyers argue that the bribery scheme was concocted by other executives at the company. In a court filing, they said their client has been portrayed as a caricature of a mob boss when he’s really an immigrant success story.

They say the India-born exec developed Subsys after seeing his wife suffer and die from breast cancer.

During his trial, jurors heard from former employees who testified that Insys made a habit of hiring attractive women as representatives to boost sales of the drug. One former sales representative testified that a regional sales manager once gave a lap dance at a Chicago nightclub to a doctor Insys was pushing to write more prescriptions.

The case was considered the first that sought to hold an opioid maker criminally liable for the drug crisis, which has claimed nearly 400,000 lives over the last two decades.

Along with Kapoor, four others from Insys also were convicted last year, while two pleaded guilty and testified against their former colleagues. Alec Burlakoff, a former vice president of sales who pleaded guilty in 2018, also is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in Boston.

Image courtesy of news.wbfo.org

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