Sale of Illicit Painkillers: Subsys

Sale of Illicit Painkillers
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Sale of Illicit Painkillers
Subsys refers to a highly addictive fentanyl-based medication approved by the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to only treat cancer patients with intense pain. This fentanyl sublingual spray was taken orally. Subsys was a strong pain medication that ended up being prescribed to individuals without cancer or intense pain. This drug had significant effects on people’s mind and body. In particular, it is highly addictive such that when a person is prescribed, it is difficult to stop taking it. Some Subsys users said that they lost their teeth (McLaughlin, 2020). Other effects of this medication were the inability to think rationally, experienced changes in sleeping patterns, breathlessness, mood swings, weight loss, and death.  
Insys Therapeutics Inc. was the company behind the manufacture of Subsys. The top executives of this firm, including John Kapoor, Insys Therapeutics Inc.’s founder, and Michael Babich, the former chief executive at Insys, spread the use of this medication by taking several unethical steps. They bribed doctors and pharmacists to prescribe Subsys to patients who did not need it (ABC News, 2020). Besides, Subsys was approved for use by cancer patients experiencing intense pain. However, pharmacists and doctors prescribe this medication to people with minor pain so that Insys Therapeutics Inc. can increase its sales volumes, leading to more profitability. All these unethical actions happened under the watch of the company’s executives.
In my perspective, incidents such as this involving Insys Therapeutics Inc. can happen again. Numerous pharmaceuticals keep looking for ways they can increase their sales whether ethically or unethically. They establish networks to boost their sales, such as the way Insys Therapeutics Inc. organized educational events to build relationships with pharmacists and doctors. Aft...