Insys Therapeutics

A 76-year-old Indian-origin head of a US pharmaceutical major has become the first top executive of a drugmaker to be convicted of bribing doctors in America to prescribe addictive painkillers, fuelling a national opioid crisis which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people over two decades.

The founder of Insys Therapeutics Inc became the highest-ranking pharmaceutical executive to be convicted in a case tied to the US opioid crisis, when he and four colleagues were found guilty of participating in a scheme to bribe doctors

The first prosecution of a pharmaceutical company chief executive tied to opioid overdoses begins this week, when Insys Therapeutics Inc.'s John Kapoor goes on trial. The fallout may jolt an industry facing steep penalties for its own role in the crisis.

A 76-year-old Indian-origin head of a US pharmaceutical major has become the first top executive of a drugmaker to be convicted of bribing doctors in America to prescribe addictive painkillers, fuelling a national opioid crisis which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people over two decades.

The founder of Insys Therapeutics Inc became the highest-ranking pharmaceutical executive to be convicted in a case tied to the US opioid crisis, when he and four colleagues were found guilty of participating in a scheme to bribe doctors

The first prosecution of a pharmaceutical company chief executive tied to opioid overdoses begins this week, when Insys Therapeutics Inc.'s John Kapoor goes on trial. The fallout may jolt an industry facing steep penalties for its own role in the crisis.