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Kenneth Sun, 58, an Easton, Pa., resident who also practiced in Pennsylvania, received $140,000 in illicit payouts between 2012 and 2016 from the Arizona-based company, Insys. The medically unnecessary prescriptions resulted in $847,000 in Medicare reimbursements.
Sun, who owned Progressive Pain Solutions in Phillipsburg, prescribed Subsys, a painkiller administered as a spray under the tongue that's intended for cancer patients undergoing 24-hour pain treatment. An investigation found that Sun prescribed the drug to patients who did not need it and for whom it would be unsafe.
Subsys contains fentanyl, a synthetic oipioid 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. Illegal fentanyl use is helping drive the deadly opioid epidemic in New Jersey and nationwide.
Authorities say the payments from Insys came in the form of bogus "honoraria" ostensibly for giving presentations on Subsys to other doctors. Sun admitted that he often did not even show up for the presentations and that the same people would attend them. Sun never talked about Subsys when he did give a presentation, he admitted.
Sun is scheduled to be sentenced in February.
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