BOSTON: Prosecutors on Thursday will present their closing arguments in the trial of the wealthy founder of pharmaceutical company Insys Therapeutics Inc and four colleagues accused of contributing to the US opioid epidemic by bribing doctors to prescribe an addictive fentanyl spray.
The US Food and Drug Administration has only approved Subsys for use in treating severe pain in cancer patients. Yet prosecutors says doctors who took bribes often prescribed Subsys to patients without cancer, helping boost sales at Insys. All five have pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy. Lawyers for Kapoor acknowledge that Insys paid doctors but contend that he believed they really were being paid to talk up the product's benefits.Beth Wilkinson, Kapoor's lead attorney, told jurors at the trial's start in January that he had no idea about any"side deals" that were being cut with doctors.
Two top former executives - Michael Babich, Insys' chief executive from 2011 to 2015, and Alec Burlakoff, its ex-vice president of sales - testified against Kapoor after pleading guilty to carrying out the scheme at his direction.