Mount Kisco Doctor Convicted In Fentanyl Kickback Scheme

MOUNT KISCO, NY — A Westchester doctor with a Manhattan practice has been convicted for receiving bribes and kickbacks from a pharmaceutical company in exchange for prescribing millions of dollars' worth of a potent fentanyl-based spray. The scheme revolved around a sham educational program.

Freedman still faces unrelated charges connected to a patient who died overdosing on his fentanyl prescription.

"This Office will hold any physician accountable when that physician’s medical judgment is compromised by the corrupting influence of money," said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman.

Freedman was being paid under the table to peddle Subsys, a potent fentanyl-based spray manufactured by Insys Therapeutics.

Subsys was a powerful painkiller 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. The FDA approved Subsys only for the management of breakthrough pain in cancer patients.

Freedman, a doctor certified in pain management and anesthesiology who owned a private pain management office on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, was also an Associate Clinical Professor at a large hospital in Manhattan.

In August 2012, Insys launched a “Speakers Bureau,” purportedly aimed at educating practitioners about Subsys. In reality, however, Insys used the program to induce doctors to prescribe large volumes of Subsys by paying them fees.

Freedman received about $308,600 in Speaker Program fees from Insys.

In reality, many of the programs led by Freedman were predominantly social affairs where no educational presentation about the fentanyl spray occurred. Attendance sign-in sheets for the programs were frequently forged by adding the names and signatures of health care practitioners who had not actually been present.

Prescriptions of Subsys typically cost thousands of dollars each month, and Medicare and Medicaid, as well as commercial insurers, reimbursed prescriptions written by Freedman.

In March 2013, a Regional Sales Manager for Insys sent an email to Freedman informing him that he would receive more Speaker Programs in the coming months because Insys wanted prescriptions of Subsys to increase, and urging Freedman to put more patients on Subsys. Freedman responded, in part, “Got it,” and significantly increased his Subsys prescriptions in the following months, during which he received about $33,600 in Speaker Program fees.

In 2014, FREEDMAN’s prescriptions of Subsys rose even further, and he was the fourth-highest prescriber of Subsys nationally in the final quarter of 2014, accounting for $1,132,287 in overall net sales of Subsys in that quarter alone. During 2014, Freedman was the highest-paid Insys "speaker" in the nation, receiving $143,000.

Last week Freedman was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, which carries a maximum term of five years in prison, one count of violating the Anti-Kickback Statute, which carries a maximum term of 10 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, which carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison.

He is scheduled to appear for sentencing before Judge Wood on March 19, 2020.

The other case against Freedman involves accusations of overprescribing oxycodone, fentanyl, and other controlled substances, including one that led to the patient's death. Prosecutors said on April 13, 2017, Freedman gave the patient prescriptions for 150 doses of a drug containing fentanyl, and for 950 oxycodone pills. On May 4, the patient overdosed on the fentanyl drug and died.

Meanwhile, Insys Therapeutics filed for bankruptcy protection in July after reaching a $225 million settlement with the Justice Department. Its founder and four other top executives were convicted on racketeering charges this spring but U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs overturned part of it saying while their actions were reprehensible the prosecutors had not proved conspiracy, according to news reports. They're due for sentencing in January.

SEE ALSO

• Mount Kisco Doctor Caused Fatal Overdose: US Attorney
• Westchester MDs Pushed Fentanyl Spray For Big Pharma