INSYS Agrees to Global Resolution of Claims Arising from Separate DOJ Criminal and Civil Investigations
The Department of Justice announced that INSYS Therapeutics, Inc. (“INSYS”) has agreed to pay $225 million to resolve allegations that it paid kickbacks and engaged in other illegal marketing tactics to promote sales of its fentanyl spray, Subsys. According to the terms of the settlement, INSYS will pay a criminal fine of $2 million and forfeit $28 million. The pharmaceutical manufacturer will also pay $195 million to settle civil claims based on allegations in five different qui tam lawsuits filed by separate relators. Young Law Group represents one of the five relators, a former INSYS sales representative who became concerned as the drug manufacturer continually pushed the boundaries of its marketing tactics to boost sales of its powerful opioid painkiller. In 2016, Young Law Group filed a complaint under seal on behalf the relator in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The complaint included allegations that INSYS promoted Subsys for various off-label, or unapproved, uses including musculoskeletal pain, fibromyalgia, neck pain, and back pain, despite the fact that the FDA only approved the drug for the management of breakthrough cancer pain.
Allegations of Improper Dosing Instructions and Meddling with Insurance Authorizations
INSYS management allegedly directed its sales representatives to encourage physicians to prescribe Subsys for continuous use, rather than only as needed, and to start new patients at twice the starting dose permitted by the FDA-approved label. Sales representatives were also allegedly instructed to complete prior authorization forms on behalf of the patient or physician. They also provided physicians with an appeal letter template that would be filled out if patients could not obtain prior authorization from their insurer.
The TIRF REMS Access Program
INSYS allegedly employed other less subtle tactics to remove certain “obstacles” purposely set in place to control distribution of the dangerous class of fentanyl-based painkillers, such as Subsys. For example, the FDA requires that physicians and pharmacists enroll in a program known as the TIRF REMS (Transmucosal Immediate Release Fentanyl – Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy) Access Program. The program was designed to reduce the risks of misuse, abuse, addiction, overdose and serious complications due to medication errors with the use of TIRF medicines. Prescribers and pharmacists must study educational materials and pass an online knowledge assessment exam is order to obtain certification. In an effort to increase the number of prescribers in the TIRF REMS Access Program, INSYS sales representatives allegedly provided physicians with cheat sheets that contained all the correct answers to the knowledge assessment exam. The practice of distributing the test answers was allegedly considered commonplace among sales representatives. Physicians who allegedly received the cheat sheets could easily circumvent the educational requirement of the program which was intended to ensure that they had sufficient information to make informed risk-benefit decisions prior to starting a patient on a TIRF drug.
Allegations of Sham Speaker Programs and Other Physician Incentives
Much like a number of other pharmaceutical manufacturers, INSYS utilized “speaker programs,” which were purportedly intended to be educational programs through which physicians were paid to present medical information to their colleagues at lunch and dinner events. It was alleged that these events were, in reality, sham programs whose only purpose was to pay doctors and pharmacists to convince their peers to prescribe Subsys for various off-label uses. According to allegations in the case, many of the speaking events were held at inappropriate locations, such as noisy restaurants and strip clubs, and were nothing more than a pretense to provide attendees with free food, alcohol, and monetary compensation. The alleged payment of bribes and kickbacks to attending prescribers was designed as a way to increase the number of Subsys prescriptions written, as well as the dosage of those prescriptions. Many physician-speakers allegedly received compensation without ever having provided any educational content whatsoever at these events. Another form of illegal kickbacks allegedly involved the use of gift cards. INSYS management allegedly encouraged sales representatives to provide gift cards to physicians as an incentive to continue prescribing Subsys. Sales representatives allegedly employed covert techniques to conceal the details of the transactions involving the purchase of the gift cards. Under one such scheme, an INSYS sales representative would allegedly purchase gift cards at a local food establishment and persuade the store owner to create fraudulent receipts for the value of the purchase price of the gift cards. The doctored receipts would falsely reflect the purchase of coffee and other small food items which could permissibly be given to a physician’s office. The sales representative would allegedly submit the fraudulent receipts for reimbursement by INSYS and then directly give the gift cards as a form of illegal and untraceable kickbacks to the physicians who prescribed Subsys.
The Rochester Connection
As the manufacturer of Subsys, INSYS was only the first link in the chain of bad actors who allegedly put profit ahead of preventable harm to thousands of vulnerable patients. Rochester Drug Cooperative (“RDC”), the sixth largest distributor of pharmaceutical products in the country, was charged as a corporate entity with conspiring to distribute drugs, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and failing to file suspicious order reports. Last month, the CEO of RDC signed a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”) in connection with the pending charges against the company. Under the DPA and a related consent decree, RDC agreed to: 1) accept responsibility for its conduct by making admissions and stipulating to the accuracy of an extensive statement of facts; 2) pay a $20 million penalty; 3) reform and enhance its Controlled Substances Act compliance program; and 4) submit to supervision by an independent monitor. If RDC remains compliant with the DPA, the government will defer prosecution and seek to dismiss the charges after five years. The recent charges against RDC stem from a two-year investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) after RDC violated the terms of a prior civil settlement. The disclosure of the prior investigation and resulting civil settlement came to light after RDC’s former CEO, Laurence Doud III, filed a lawsuit against the company last year. In the suit against RDC, Doud claims he was fired so that RDC could shift responsibility to him for the recent DEA criminal investigation. Mr. Doud and RDC’s former chief compliance officer were both recently charged with conspiring to distribute drugs and defrauding the government. The indictments mark the first time that federal criminal charges have been brought against company executives for conspiring to illegally distribute opioids
Linden Care Specialty Pharmacy
In his lawsuit against RDC, Mr. Doud also alleged that two members of RDC’s executive team defamed him by asserting that he and BelHealth Investment Partners had an improper financial relationship. BelHealth Investment Partners is a private equity firm that acquired Linden Care LLC (“Linden Care”), a company that ran a now-defunct specialty pharmacy based in Woodbury, New York. The recent investigation by the DEA was based, in part, on the inaccurate reporting, or lack of reporting, of pharmaceutical sales between RDC and Linden Care. Prior to going out of business, it is believed that Linden Care was one of the largest, if not the largest, distributors of Subsys in the nation. Young Law Group’s initial investigation of the allegations against INSYS identified the critical role that Linden Care played as the leading dispenser of Subsys throughout the country. The complaint filed by Young Law Group on behalf of its client was the only one to name Linden Care as a defendant in the INSYS qui tam lawsuit. Although the case against INSYS has settled, Young Law Group’s suit against Linden Care and Belhealth Partners is currently pending before the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
The False Claims Act
The INSYS case demonstrates the importance of whistleblowers in identifying and reporting fraud. Fraud against the government takes many forms, and employees and contractors are often in the best position to detect and report such conduct. The government simply doesn’t have the resources to identify and prosecute every instance of fraud. Consequently, many unscrupulous actors continue to defraud the government, and American taxpayers, for years without detection or prosecution. The False Claims Act provides a monetary incentive to whistleblowers who provide original information. If the government makes a monetary recovery based on the information provided, a whistleblower can receive between 15 and 30 percent of the recovery. The False Claims Act also contains provisions that protect a whistleblower from retaliation by an employer.
If you have evidence of fraud being committed against the government by an employer, business competitor or contractor, call the experienced whistleblower attorneys Young Law Group at (800) 590-4116 or fill out a form for a free, no-obligation consultation.