John Kapoor, the founder of Insys Therapeutics, was sentenced in federal court to 66 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

John Kapoor

Kapoor, 76, was also ordered to pay forfeiture and restitution in an amount to be determined later.

A jury in May 2019 convicted Kapoor of a racketeering conspiracy along with four other Insys executives in a scheme to bribe providers to prescribe Subsys, a fentanyl-based pain medication, without regard for medical necessity.

Kapoor privately funded Insys as it developed Subsys and was committed to ensuring that the drug was successful, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

In 2012, Kapoor authorized the use of “speaker programs” that purported to increase brand awareness of Subsys through peer-to-peer lunches and dinners.

“However, the programs were used as a vehicle to pay bribes and kickbacks to targeted practitioners in exchange for increased Subsys prescriptions and increased dosage,” prosecutors said.“

Kapoor in 2012 also developed the Insys Reimbursement Center, which sought to obtain prior authorization for payment from carriers and pharmacy benefit managers.

“To do so, employees of the (Insys Reimbursement Center) posed as employees of the practitioner and used a script of false and misleading representations about patient diagnoses in order the secure approval for the drug by the insurance provider,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “For example, since insurers were more likely to authorize payment for Subsys if a patient was being treated for cancer-related pain, IRC employees were instructed to mislead insurers regarding the true diagnosis of the patient.”