Physician’s assistant guilty in Subsys kickbacks case – News – seacoastonline.com

Elizabeth Dinan edinan@seacoastonline.com @DinanElizabeth

CONCORD A federal jury on Tuesday found a former physician’s assistant “guilty of participating in a scheme in which he received kickbacks in exchange for prescribing a powerful fentanyl spray to patients in violation of federal law,” announced U.S. Attorney Scott W. Murray.

Christopher Clough, 44, of Dover, was charged with eight crimes alleging he prescribed the addictive fentanyl spray Subsys, in exchange for cash kickbacks, while working at a Dover pain clinic. After a week of trial testimony and the guilty verdict, Murray announced, Clough “often prescribed the drug for patients who did not have breakthrough cancer pain. He often started patients on high doses of the addictive fentanyl spray and rebuffed patients and their family members who stated that they no longer wanted the drug.”

Clough was convicted of one count of conspiracy and seven counts of receipt of kickbacks and faces up to five years in prison for each conviction when he is sentenced March 29, it was announced.
 
Murray’s office said trial testimony showed that after he was approached by a representative of a drug manufacturer in June of 2013, Clough “became a frequent prescriber of a fentanyl spray that had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat breakthrough cancer pain.”

“From approximately June of 2013 through the fall of 2014, Clough wrote more than 750 prescriptions for the fentanyl spray in New Hampshire, including more than 225 prescriptions for Medicare patients,” the U.S. attorney said. “The Medicare program paid over $2.1 million for these prescriptions.”

While he was writing the prescriptions, the drug manufacturer paid Clough over $49,000 to serve as a speaker at more than 40 “sham” events, including at Portsmouth restaurants, according to prosecutors. 

“Health care providers should make their treatment decisions based upon the needs of their patients, not their desire to pad their wallets,” said Murray. “Corporate money should not be allowed to influence a patient’s medical decisions, especially when it comes to prescriptions for a powerful opioid drug like fentanyl. When providers are influenced by kickbacks, this can have tremendously bad consequences for patients. I thank the jury for thoughtfully reviewing the evidence and rendering this important verdict that shows that corruption in the health care field will not be tolerated.”

In a written statement, Harold H. Shaw, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division, said, “What Mr. Clough is accused of doing in this case – receiving kickbacks in exchange for prescribing a powerful fentanyl spray – not only violated federal law but put patients at risk and contributed to the opioid crisis. The FBI will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to do everything we can to root out those who place profit before patient safety.”

Portsmouth attorney Michael Rainboth is representing and has settled suits for multiple clients who claimed they were harmed by Subsys prescribed by Clough.

The case was jointly investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Diversion Control Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles L. Rombeau and Seth R. Aframe.

“New Hampshire is in the midst of a devastating opioid crisis, as deaths from fentanyl soar. Clough prescribed a highly addictive form of fentanyl based on kickback payments not on the needs of his patients,” said Phillip M. Coyne, special agent in charge for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “His conduct has played a significant role in damaging our community and he will now pay the price.”