Freehold Clinic Owner Took Bribes To Prescribe Fentanyl: Feds

Freehold NJ

05 November, 2021

11:51 AM

Description

FREEHOLD, NJ — A doctor who owned a medical practice in Freehold was charged this week for allegedly taking part in a scheme to receive bribes and kickbacks from a pharmaceutical company in exchange for prescribing large volumes of a powerful fentanyl narcotic, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig. Mukaram Gazi, 51, of Marlboro, New Jersey, was charged with one count of conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks, one count of receiving kickbacks, one count of health care fraud and one count of conspiring to unlawfully distribute dangerous narcotics. Gazi owned and maintained a urology practice with multiple locations in Freehold, Hamilton, Howell and Toms River. He got over $130,000 in bribes and kickbacks from a pharmaceutical company based in Arizona (Insys Therapeutics), in exchange for prescribing its drug Subsys, a powerful opioid narcotic designed to rapidly enter a patient's bloodstream upon being sprayed under the tongue, Honig said. The Acting U.S. Attorney explained that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Subsys solely for the "management of breakthrough pain in cancer patients who are already receiving and who are tolerant to around-the-clock therapy for their underlying persistent cancer pain." However, Gazi didn't treat patients who were suffering from breakthrough cancer pain and was not in the practice of prescribing fentanyl-based pain medications, Honig said. Regardless, the doctor started prescribing Subsys to a number of patients for whom Subsys was medically unnecessary. The bribes and kickbacks were disguised as payments for educational presentations supposedly given by Gazi. "In reality, these presentations were a sham," Honig said. They were often described as social events at restaurants, lacked the appropriate audience of licensed practitioners who could prescribe Subsys and many of the signatures on the speaker program sign-in sheets were forged, according to the official. Gazi also prescribed high-dosage Adderall to a pharmacy owner who filled many of his Subsys prescriptions, as well as the pharmacy owner's significant other, to persuade the pharmacy owner to continue filling his Subsys prescriptions. The scheme also included the submission of fraudulent claims to Medicare, New Jersey Medicaid, and other health insurance providers, Honig said.