John Kapoor had already amassed a small fortune in pharmaceuticals when he founded Insys Therapeutics. It was the early 2000s, a boom time for painkillers, and he developed a novel formulation of fentanyl, the most potent opioid on the market. Kapoor was eager to make the most of his innovation. The drug was a niche product, approved only for cancer patients in dire condition, but the company's leadership pushed it more widely. Evan Hughes offers a bracing look not just at Insys, but at how opioids are sold at the point they first enter the national bloodstream - in the doctor's office.
|