A8
East Oregonian
Saturday, January 26, 2019
BUSINESS
Families hoping for justice from prescription bribes trial
New Jersey
woman died after
Subsys overdose
By ALANNA DURKIN
RICHER
Associated Press
BOSTON — Drug com-
pany executives weren’t sat-
isfied with sales for their
powerful painkiller, so they
devised a plan, prosecutors
say: Offer cash to doctors in
exchange for prescriptions.
Soon, the highly addictive
fentanyl spray was flourish-
ing, and executives were rak-
ing in millions.
Now, the company’s
wealthy founder is heading
to trial in a case that’s putting
a spotlight on the federal gov-
ernment’s efforts to go after
those it says are responsible
for fueling the deadly drug
crisis.
“It really is a day of reck-
oning,” said Richard Hol-
lawell, an attorney for the
parents of a New Jersey
woman who died of an over-
dose in 2016 after she was
prescribed Subsys, a drug
meant for cancer patients
with severe pain.
John Kapoor, the wealthy
founder and former chair-
man of Chandler, Arizo-
na-based Insys Therapeutics
Inc., is the highest-ranking
pharmaceutical company fig-
ure to face trial amid the opi-
oid epidemic that’s claiming
thousands of lives every year.
The 75-year-old, who
resigned from the compa-
ny’s board of directors after
his arrest, and the four other
AP Photo/Julio Cortez
Deborah Fuller poses for a photograph with a pillow show-
ing a photo of her late daughter, Sarah Fuller, left, who died
of a prescription drug overdose, and her during an interview
in her home in West Berlin, N.J.
former Insys employees
being tried alongside him are
charged with racketeering
conspiracy. Kapoor has said
he committed no crimes and
believes he will be vindicated
at trial, which begins Mon-
day in Boston’s federal court.
But two of his top lieuten-
ants, including the compa-
ny’s former chief executive,
are now cooperating with
prosecutors and are expected
to tell jurors that Kapoor
directed the scheme to boost
profits.
Massachusetts is one of
many states where Insys did
business, but the state’s U.S.
attorney’s office is known for
its success in complex health
care cases.
Kapoor’s arrest in 2017
came the same day Republi-
can President Donald Trump
declared the opioid crisis a
public health emergency.
And prosecutors have touted
the case against Kapoor and
other Insys executives as
illustrative of their work to
fight the drug epidemic.
Kapoor’s lawyers, mean-
while, have blasted prosecu-
tors for trying to link Insys
to the drug crisis, accus-
ing them of trying to poi-
son the jury pool and noting
that Subsys makes up a small
fraction of the prescription
opioid market.
“Despite these uncon-
troverted facts, the govern-
ment continues to perpetuate
a false narrative in its public
pronouncements about this
case,” his lawyers wrote in
court documents.
The judge has since pro-
hibited both sides of the case
from talking to the news
media.
Several Insys employ-
ees and doctors have already
been convicted in other cases
of participating in a kickback
scheme. A number of states
have sued the company,
Frazier Office Supply under new ownership
which also agreed last year
to pay $150 million to settle
a federal investigation into
inappropriate sales.
Prosecutors say Insys
targeted doctors across the
country known for prescrib-
ing large numbers of opi-
oids and paid them bribes
and kickbacks that were dis-
guised as speaking fees for
events billed as opportunities
for physicians to learn about
the drug.
Insys staffers also misled
insurers about patients’ med-
ical conditions and posed
as doctors’ office employ-
ees in order to get payment
approved for the costly drug,
prosecutors allege.
Lawsuits filed against the
company say patients were
given high doses of the potent
narcotic even though they
didn’t have cancer, weren’t
warned of the risks and
became addicted before suf-
fering through withdrawal
when they were cut off.
“These are normal, every-
day, hardworking peo-
ple who go to a pain clinic
because they are suffer-
ing from chronic pain and
they fell into this trap,” said
Michael Rainboth, a New
Hampshire attorney who has
brought several cases against
Insys.
Sarah Fuller was being
treated for fibromyalgia and
back pain when an Insys
sales representative and her
doctor met with her at her
doctor’s New Jersey office to
persuade her to begin taking
Subsys, according to a law-
suit her parents filed against
Insys, Kapoor and others.
In an order to get Fuller
approved for the drug, an
Watch out for Pacific Power scam alert
PENDLETON — Pacific
Power cautions Pendle-
ton-area businesses to be
aware of possible scam
calls.
It has been reported
that scammers are calling
businesses in Pendleton
and threatening to discon-
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Frazier Office Supply has
long had the slogan “Our
Business is taking care of
your Business” emblazoned
across one of its walls, and
its new owners have no inten-
tion of taking it down.
The 227 S. Main Street
store is under new manage-
ment, but owners Kris and
Stephanie Smith are taking
an “if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-
fix-it” approach to a business
that’s been in Pendleton for
more than 100 years.
Kris Smith said he knew
former owners Ron and
Debbie Bates both socially
and through his old job
at Pioneer Title & Escrow,
which ordered supplies
through Frazier.
When Ron first brought up
selling Frazier, Smith thought
he was joking. But eventu-
ally, the Smiths got serious
about acquiring the store.
“He threw out the bait and
I took it,” Smith said.
The two couples started
talking in April, and on Jan.
2 the Smiths were the new-
est owners of the venerable
business.
Smith said regular cus-
AP Photo/Julio Cortez
A small memorial in honor of Sarah Fuller, who died of a pre-
scription drug overdose, is displayed in the yard of her moth-
er Deborah Fuller’s home in West Berlin, N.J.
nect the power unless pay-
ment for an overdue bill is
made immediately. Pacific
Power urges those who may
receive such calls to refrain
from making arrange-
ments for a payment. Peo-
ple should make note of
the callback number. After
hanging up, Pacific Power
asks people to call the com-
pany’s toll-free number at
1-888-221-7070.
For more information
about recent scams target-
ing utility customers, visit
w w w.pacif icpower.net/
scam.
It’s time to
GET OUT
and GO!
Staff photo by Antonio Sierra
Frazier Office Supply co-owner Kris Smith stands in his store
in Pendleton Friday.
tomers are still getting used
to seeing his face when they
come into the store, but the
transition is smoothed by Fra-
zier’s veteran three-person
work crew, which includes
15-year employee Lorrie
Rigdon.
Frazier has managed to
withstand the rise of big box
stores and internet retailers
as Main Street has become
more geared toward restau-
rants and tourism-friendly
businesses.
Smith said his plan to
keep Frazier open for years to
Insys employee duped the
pharmacy benefit man-
ager into believing that the
employee worked for the
doctor’s office and that Fuller
was suffering from cancer
pain, the lawsuit says.
Fuller died of an overdose
a little over a year later at age
32.
“Sarah didn’t have cancer,
so there was no reason for
her to have been on it,” said
her mother, Deborah Fuller.
“There are a lot of things she
should have been able to do,
but her life was cut short by
people who just don’t care,”
she said.
Fuller’s
doctor
isn’t
accused of getting kickbacks
and hasn’t been criminally
charged. But she lost her
license after state officials
found she was “indiscrimi-
nately” prescribing the drug
to patients without cancer.
Prosecutors allege the
poorly attended speak-
ing events were merely an
excuse for doctors and their
friends to have a fancy free
meal. One New York doctor
charged with getting kick-
backs is accused of using
marijuana and cocaine
before and during some of
the speaker programs he led.
They “do not need to be
good speakers, they need
to write a lot of ... (pre-
scriptions for the fentanyl
spray),” former Insys sales
executive Alec Burlakoff
told a colleague, accord-
ing to court documents.
Burlakoff pleaded guilty
and is expected to testify
against Kapoor during the
monthslong trial.
come is to keep executing its
existing business model.
While Frazier isn’t able
to sell supplies in large vol-
umes, Smith said he can get
most products to his clients
within a day and there’s a
built-in knowledge on cus-
tomer orders that bigger
retailers don’t have.
Frazier delivers to both
Pendleton and Hermis-
ton, and Smith said there’s
a desire for many Umatilla
County businesses to buy
locally, a trend he doesn’t see
going away.
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