BOSTON (AP) — The founder of a pharmaceutical company charged with leading a conspiracy to bribe doctors to prescribe a powerful opioid pain medication for people who didn’t need it is due in court in Massachusetts.
FILE – In this Oct. 26, 2017 file photo, Insys Therapeutics founder John Kapoor, center, is escorted from U.S. District Court in Phoenix. He had been charged with leading a conspiracy to bribe doctors to prescribe an opioid pain medication for people who didn’t need it. Kapoor is scheduled for arraignment Thursday, Nov. 16, in federal court Boston. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
John Kapoor of Insys Therapeutics Inc. was arrested in Arizona last month and is expected to make his first appearance in Boston’s federal courthouse on Thursday.
Kapoor and other Insys executives are accused of offering kickbacks to doctors to write large numbers of prescriptions for a fentanyl-based pain medication that’s meant for cancer patients. Most people who received prescriptions did not have cancer.
Prosecutors say they also mislead insurance providers to get them to approve payment for the drug for non-cancer patients.
Kapoor’s attorney has said his client is not guilty.
© Copyright 2017 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
