Florida Doctor Must Face Feds’ Fentanyl Spray Kickback Lawsuit

Federal prosecutors adequately alleged that a Florida doctor violated the False Claims Act by issuing medically unnecessary prescriptions for Subsys, a fentanyl-based spray manufactured by Insys Therapeutics Inc. and used to treat breakthrough cancer pain, a district court in the state said.

Prosecutors sufficiently claimed that pain management doctor Edward Lubin participated in Insys’s “sham” speaker program, under which he he received kickbacks in return for prescribing high quantities of the spray, Judge Thomas Barber of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida said in a Monday opinion.

The complaint set forth facts to show Lubin acted with actual knowledge of the Medicare and TRICARE claims’ falsity or with reckless disregard of the truth, the court said, denying his motion to dismiss.

These alleged facts include the timing of payments to Lubin in relation to prescriptions, the volume of spray prescriptions compared to other drugs, and the fact that most of the prescriptions were for non-cancer patients, the court said.

The government sued Lubin in September 2021.

Sisco-Law and Campbell Trohn Tamayo & Aranda PA represented Lubin.

The case is United States v. Lubin, M.D. Fla., No. 8:21-cv-02231, 4/25/22.