Insys Therapeutics, a small pharmaceutical company, is at the center of a disturbing story published in this New York Times article last month. A former sales manager and former sales representative from Insys have both been arrested on federal anti-kickback charges, each accused of paying doctors large sums of money to participate in “sham” education programs in exchange for prescribing millions of dollars of Fentanyl. Fentanyl is a drug that is 100 times more potent than morphine and is becoming increasingly dangerous as the abuse of it skyrockets, partly due to inappropriate marketing. In a statement, the United States attorney in Manhattan Preet Bharara said, “Fentanyl is an incredibly dangerous and highly addictive drug that is finding its way into, and destroying, too many lives in our communities.”

The article delves into the indictment which contains shocking details on the measures taken by the two Insys employees to increase sales of Fentanyl. The idea that doctors are being successfully manipulated for personal gain at the detriment of patients is terrifying. “We’re not talking about acne cream here,” said Patrick Burns, the executive director of Taxpayers Against Fraud, an advocacy group for whistle-blowers. “We’re talking about one of the most addictive substances known to man, that puts people in a box on a daily basis.”