People all over America rely on the cutting-edge discoveries of pharmaceutical companies in order to alleviate their disorders and serious diseases. It's a huge industry, and unfortunately not always the most forgiving or honest.
There are news reports all the time where people are unable to pay for their medication, and CEO's like Martin Shkreli who take advantage of the market to sell life-saving medication.
So when Insys Therapeutics finally got approval to sell their drug they ran into a problem: not enough people were buying it.
It would make sense why people were hesitant. Their cancer treatment drug Subsys, which is essentially a sprayable form of fentanyl, has been making headlines around the world because of how easy it is to overdose on it.
While every business wants to be successful, there are lines that shouldn't be crossed, and what this company did is not only shameful, it is extremely illegal.
As their drug Subsys was expensive to produce, the company naturally wanted to elevate the cost. But when not enough patients were buying the drug, they decided to go a different route.
The drug company set up an elaborate system where employees fooled insurance companies by pretending to be doctors offices, and paid off actual doctors to say they were using the drug successfully. Not only that, but they faked medical records of patients to ensure they were prescribed the treatment.
Probably the worst thing they are being charged for is giving out employee phone numbers for patients to call instead of doctors offices. When people who were not diagnosed with the disease called the numbers, they were pressured into believing they had cancer, and therefore needed this "groundbreaking" drug.
This is a recording of an Insys employee calling an insurance representative and lying by making it sound as though the patient require the cancer treatment, but never actually says they have cancer. The patient who received medication as a result of this call later died of an overdose on Subsys.
The company is now facing a federal indictment for fraud, conspiracy, and a slew of other charges. Nearly all of the executives have so far plead guilty to the charges.
