Insys founder encouraged boosting opioid doses for profit, former marketing exec testifies

Matthew Napoletano, a former marketing manager at Insys Therapeutics, told a Boston jury that the opioid maker's founder John Kapoor promoted a policy that pushed physicians to prescribe higher doses of Subsys to boost profits, according to Bloomberg.

Mr. Napoletano, who worked for Insys from November 2011 to August 2014, said he repeatedly objected to his boss' methods and policies that urged and pushed physicians to prescribe higher doses before he quit. When he left the company, he gave up $5 million to $7 million in stock options.

"My position was in pharma, we don't push the dose," Mr. Napoletano testified at the Insys founder's racketeering and conspiracy trial. "That's what got Purdue [Pharmaceuticals] in trouble."

The lawsuit claims Mr. Kapoor, 75, and four other executives conspired to bribe physicians with speaker fees and duped insurers into covering Subsys prescriptions.

Mr. Napoletano was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony about how the company promoted and ensured sales of its painkiller.

Read the full report here.

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