The Latest: Bail set at $1 million for drug company founder

PHOENIX – The Latest on charges against the billionaire founder of an opioid medication maker (all times local):

5:10 p.m.

A judge has set bail at $1 million for the billionaire founder of an opioid medication maker that has faced increasing scrutiny from authorities across the U.S. over allegations of pushing painkiller prescriptions.

Insys Therapeutics founder John Kapoor was arrested earlier Thursday in Phoenix. Kapoor and other defendants in the fraud and racketeering case are accused of offering bribes to doctors to write large numbers of prescriptions for a fentanyl-based pain medication meant only for cancer patients with severe pain.

Most people who received prescriptions did not have cancer.

U.S. Magistrate Michelle Burns said Kapoor must wear electronic monitoring and surrender his passports if he posts bail.

Defence attorney Brian T. Kelly said after the hearing that his client is not guilty and will fight the charges.

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10:10 a.m.

U.S. authorities say the founder of an Arizona-based pharmaceutical company has been arrested and charged with leading a nationwide conspiracy to bribe doctors to prescribe a powerful opioid pain medication.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts said Wednesday that John Kapoor of Insys Therapeutics Inc. and former executives and managers are charged with racketeering and other crimes in a new indictment.

Amid a national opioid addiction crisis, Kapoor of Phoenix and the other defendants are accused of offering kickbacks to doctors to write large numbers of prescriptions for a fentanyl-based pain medication that’s meant for cancer patients. Most of those who received the prescriptions weren’t cancer patients.

Kapoor is to appear Thursday in federal court in Phoenix. Online court records don’t list an attorney for him.

The indictment adds new allegations to an ongoing case. The former executives and managers have pleaded not guilty.