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 Alec Burlakoff, who was the Chandler, Arizona-based drugmaker's
former vice president of sales, is expected to appear in federal
court in Boston after being previously charged with engaging in a
racketeering scheme with others at Insys.
His co-defendants have included six other former Insys executives
and managers, including the company's billionaire founder, John
Kapoor. They have pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and
are set to go to trial in January.
Prosecutors in a court filing earlier this month confirmed they had
reached a plea deal with Burlakoff, 44, but did not say whether as
part of the agreement he would become a cooperating witness in their
case.
But at a court hearing last week, Beth Wilkinson, Kapoor's lawyer,
said she had learned Burlakoff had been working with prosecutors
since August.
Wilkinson did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
George Vien, Burlakoff's attorney, declined to comment.
The case centers on Subsys, Insys' under-the-tongue spray that is
intended for managing pain in cancer patients and which contains
fentanyl, an opioid 100 times stronger than morphine.
The U.S. Justice Department contends Insys paid kickbacks to doctors
to prescribe Subsys, often via fees to participate in sham speaker
programs, ostensibly meant to educate medical professionals about
the drug.
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Prosecutors allege that from 2012 to 2015 Kapoor, former Chief
Executive Michael Babich, Burlakoff and others conspired to pay
bribes to doctors to prescribe Subsys in order to boost sales and to
defraud insurers into paying for it.
Burlakoff supervised the company's sales managers and sales
representatives and pushed them to use the speaker programs to pay
doctors to prescribe Subsys, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors have sought to link the case to the country's opioid
addiction epidemic. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, opioids were involved in more than 49,000
overdose deaths in 2017.
Other defendants include Michael Gurry, Insys' former vice president
of managed markets; Richard Simon, a former national director of
sales; and Sunrise Lee and Joseph Rowan, both of whom were regional
sales directors.
Insys in August announced it had agreed to pay at least $150 million
as part of a settlement with the Justice Department.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
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