Illegal sale of opioids: Indian-American pharma billionaire arrested
Indian-American billionaire John Kapoor has reportedly been arrested for illegally marketing opioids. According to the justice department, Kapoor, the owner of pharma giant, Insys Therapeutics has been charged with "conspiracy to profit through illegal distribution of a drug meant for cancer patients." This comes as US authorities are tightening regulations on the sale of pain-relief drugs over the opioid crisis. Here's more.
US: Trump declares opioid crisis a public health emergency
On October 27, US President Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a "public health emergency." He also termed the crisis a "national shame." Trump had earlier hinted that he would declare a more far-reaching national emergency over the crisis. This came after Trump had to withdraw his drug czar nominee Tom Marino, who was accused of relaxing opioid restrictions.
America's opioid crisis
The opioid crisis refers to an increase in the abuse of opium-based prescription and non-prescription drugs, including morphine and heroin, which are made from opium in the US in recent years. Around 14,400 Americans have died from drug overdoses from prescription opioid in 2016.
Who is John Kapoor?
John Kapoor is an Arizona-based pharmaceutical entrepreneur and billionaire. He owns the Arizona-based company, Insys Therapeutics, a major manufacturer of cancer pain-relief drug, fentanyl. Kapoor hails from Amritsar and studied at the Mumbai university before getting his PhD in medicinal chemistry from University of Buffalo.
What has Kapoor been charged with?
Kapoor has been charged with "conspiracy to profit by using bribes and fraud to cause the illegal distribution of a Fentanyl spray." William D Weinreb, acting-US attorney has also accused him of "bribing doctors to over-prescribe the drug and committing insurance fraud for profit." Charges have also been levelled against top officials at Insys who had been indicted in December 2016.
Opioid crisis: Authorities to toughen stance on illegal business practices
" We must hold the industry and its leadership accountable just as we would the cartels or a street-level drug dealer," Weinreb stated. The statement further revealed that the FBI will thoroughly scrutinize business practices that choose profits over patient safety.
Selling opioids online? New tech may land you in trouble
Meanwhile, in a new discovery, researchers at the University of California have developed a technology that makes it easier to detect and trace illegal sale of opioids through micro-blogging sites such as Twitter. The technology does this through filtering keywords such as fentanyl and vicodin!
