A sales representative formerly employed by Insys Pharmaceuticals has plead guilty during her trial for defrauding the United States, “in a scheme to pay kickbacks to a doctor to induce him to prescribe Subsys, a dangerous sublingual fentanyl spray,” according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release issued late last week. This case stems from an indictment from just over one year ago.
This is the latest in a series of DOJ actions concerning Subsys. Insys’ founder was sentenced to 66 months in prison in January 2020.
According to the release concerning the sales representative, the scheme involved a faux speaker program, through which she facilitated payments to a doctor, also listed as a co-defendant. As a result of the fees from the speaker program, the federal agency alleged, the doctor’s prescription of Subsys increased dramatically even though he did not truly participate in many speaker events.
The release also claimed that the representative assisted in the production of paperwork assuring that the fraudulently induced prescriptions would be reimbursed by federal and state healthcare programs. The representative could be sentenced for up to 60 months, subject to a judge’s ruling.