Ex-Insys employees plead not guilty in U.S. drug-kickback case

Two former Insys Therapeutics Inc employees pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges that they engaged in a scheme to pay doctors kickbacks including speaker fees to prescribe a drug containing the opioid fentanyl. Jonathan Roper, a former Insys district sales manager, and Fernando Serrano, a former sales representative, entered their pleas in Manhattan federal court to charges including that they violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. Insys, based in Arizona, is not identified by name in the indictment against Roper, of Commack, New York, and Serrano, of Manalapan, New Jersey.