Indian-origin head of US pharmaceutical major found guilty of bribing doctors to prescribe opioids

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. John Nath Kapoor, the founder of Insys Therapeutics pharmaceutical company based in Arizona state's Chandler city, was found guilty of criminal conspiracy by a jury in Boston, Washington-based National Public Radio reported. Kapoor, a one-time billionaire, was convicted on Wednesday along with four other former executives of the company. They face up to 20 years in prison. Kapoor and his co-defendants were accused by the federal government of running a nationwide bribery scheme. India-born Kapoor founded Insys Therapeutics in 1990. Between 2012 and 2015, Insys allegedly paid doctors to prescribe its potent opioid medication and then lied to insurance companies to ensure that the expensive fentanyl-based painkiller would be covered, the report said.