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Pain Hustlers: Crime and Punishment at an Opioid Startup Originally published as The Hard Sell

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Format: Paperback


Description

The inside story of a band of entrepreneurial upstarts who made millions selling painkillers—until their scheme unraveled, putting them at the center of a landmark criminal trial. • THE BASIS FOR THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE PAIN HUSTLERS STARRING EMILY BLUNT AND CHRIS EVANS "Unfolds with the velocity and verve of a Scorsese film…A tour de force."—Patrick Radden Keefe, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing 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, a brilliant immigrant scientist with relentless business instincts, was eager to make the most of his innovation. He gathered around him an ambitious group of young lieutenants. His head of sales—an unstable and unmanageable leader, but a genius of persuasion—built a team willing to pull every lever to close a sale, going so far as to recruit an exotic dancer ready to scrape her way up. They zeroed in on the eccentric and suspect doctors receptive to their methods. Employees at headquarters did their part by deceiving insurance companies. The drug was a niche product, approved only for cancer patients in dire condition, but the company’s leadership pushed it more widely, and together they turned Insys into a Wall Street sensation. But several insiders reached their breaking point and blew the whistle. They sparked a sprawling investigation that would lead to a dramatic courtroom battle, breaking new ground in the government’s fight to hold the drug industry accountable in the spread of addictive opioids. In Pain Hustlers, National Magazine Award–finalist Evan Hughes lays bare the pharma playbook. He draws on unprecedented access to insiders of the Insys saga, from top executives to foot soldiers, from the patients and staff of far-flung clinics to the Boston investigators who treated the case as a drug-trafficking conspiracy, flipping cooperators and closing in on the key players. With colorful characters and true suspense, Pain Hustlers 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. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Anchor; Reissue edition (September 26, 2023)


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0525566325


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 28


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.2 ounces


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #113,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #15 in Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Industry (Books) #35 in Business Ethics (Books) #230 in Criminology (Books)


#15 in Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Industry (Books):


#35 in Business Ethics (Books):


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If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is: Monday, Jun 2

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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Very credible ein reporting
This story rings so true! I wasn't even a minnow myself, through more than three decades of medical practice. I'm female and was educated in the era of great caution about prescribing narcotics, and then practiced in large groups with strict ethical guidelines restricting access of drug reps to physicians. Only in the first decade of the 21st century, when working in a practice group with looser rules and mostly male partners, did I see this dynamic in real life. (I had heard complaints from my husband about drug reps with a combination of tenacity and sliminess that earned them the name "barnacles," but they rarely crossed my path.) What I experienced was far from working in a pill mill, but the success of persuasive strategies on my partners' prescribing practices was unmistakable, even in a practice group that did have guardrails. Evan Hughes points out the need for guidance and guardrails in medical clinics, in insurer interactions, in regulatory agencies and law enforcement, and especially in the pharmaceutical industry. His conclusions about how the Big Pharma can continue to misbehave with just a little better cover-up schemes and better layering are chilling. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2022 by M Arneson
    • Fun, fast, and factual
The Hard Sell reads like a mob novel, a story of colorful characters doing terrible things whom you can't help but sympathize with at times. It's a work of journalism but also something of a page turner. But this real-life Breaking Bad doesn't quite end, because while the characters of the book each find their fates, the author takes care to remind us of a continuing industry, populated by characters smart enough to live a bit less colorfully, a bit more respectably, while performing in substance the same bad acts. The protagonists live large and it is diverting to be placed in their heads. But much of this book's punch comes when you set it down, think of the patients whom these protagonists never much thought about, about how odd it is that the "miraculous innovations" for which we tolerate extortionate prices by drug companies require little armies of peddlers to flog them, and we act as if that's necessary and normal and okay. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2022 by Steve
    • Two great books for the price of one
Evan Hughes has managed to combine two works into one. The first is a true story that reads like a novel, full of vivid and colorful, very human characters working in a small but innovative pharmaceutical company based in Phoenix. The second is a substantive, in-depth analysis of how one rogue pharmaceutical company allowed greed to take over its marketing efforts with disastrous effects for drug addiction, as patients became hooked on fentanyl and doctors put profits over safety regulations. Hughes tells how key figures of this particular company were brought to a dramatic trial in Boston and convicted, even though, sadly, some of their tactics are still clearly in evidence in other pharmaceutical companies who have thus far escaped the same punishment. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2022 by scaffali
    • Required Reading for everyone needing health care
The American health care system is touted, at least by many Americans, as the best in the world. This true story exposes the underside of how it works at some companies, at least for the pharmaceutical industry. It should be required reading for anyone taking prescription drugs, to understand that they have to be educated, skeptical, and questioning when taking prescription drugs of any type, not just opioids. Wait, not just prescription drugs, but also all the non prescription drugs, remedies, supplements and treatments offered to the public. It was great to read about how at least the top execs of one pharmaceutical company were caught illegally gaming the regulatory system to enrich themselves. Great read, and very illuminating. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2022 by Savvy Geezer
    • A Tragic Story that Needs to be Heard
“The Hard Sell” tells a story of greed and corruption that needs to be heard. It’s too easy to dismiss news stories about the Opiod Crisis and it’s effect on the country until you read Evan Hughes book. He shows you the many corrupt players at all levels from Drs and nurses to the executives. While reading the book it is easy to get caught up in the drama but you must occasionally stop and remind yourself that every one of these scripts is a person. Most of whom are being negatively impacted by taking this drug. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2022 by D. Blakelock
    • What a page turner!
This is a fast-paced, thrilling book that is difficult to put down. The characters are beautifully developed and the storyline moves apace. It’s unsettling and tragic to know it’s all true. Evan has accomplished the triple lindy of engrossing, enriching and enjoyable. Highly recommend!
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2022 by sadams
    • Great book!
Highly recommend. A view of the greed that lies in the american capitalist soul. It is not the other that posisons us. It is we who choose greed to feed our egos. Look foward to reading other books by this author.
Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2022 by Amazon Customer
    • Gripping and fast paced read!
This is a fascinating story and a very fast paced read. It flows like a novel ... I had to keep reminding myself that these things actually happened. The time that Evan Hughes put into research, fact checking, interviews etc. to tell this story is incredible.
Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2022 by Kay A.

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