A Toms River Urologist is Accused of Accepting $130,000 in Bribes
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November 9, 2021A Toms River Urologist is Accused of Accepting $130,000 in Bribes
Mukaram Gazi, 51, Toms River Urogolist
A urologist from Toms River has been charged with taking $130,000 in bribes and kickbacks to prescribe large quantities of fentanyl
The US Attorney's Office reported that a Monmouth County urologist with a Toms River office has been charged for accepting $130,000 in bribes and kickbacks from a pharmaceutical business in exchange for prescribing massive amounts of fentanyl.
Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said that Mukaram Gazi, 51, of Marlboro, was indicted on 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.
According to prosecutors, Gazi owned and operated an urological practice with offices in Toms River, Freehold, Hamilton, and Howell.
Authorities believe that Gazi accepted more than $130,000 in bribes and kickbacks from Insys Therapeutics, an Arizona-based pharmaceutical company, in exchange for prescribing Subsys, a strong opioid painkiller designed to quickly enter a patient's system after being injected under the tongue.
Subsys was licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration for the specific purpose of "managing breakthrough pain in cancer patients who are already receiving and tolerating around-the-clock medication for their underlying chronic cancer pain."
Gazi did not treat patients who were experiencing breakthrough cancer pain, and he did not provide fentanyl-based pain relievers. According to officials, he began prescribing Subsys to a number of patients for whom Subsys was medically unnecessary in exchange for payments and kickbacks from Insys Therapeutics.
Fentanyl pills
Authorities claim that the bribes and kickbacks paid to Gazi in exchange for prescribing Subsys were disguised as money for training seminars about Subsys that Gazi reportedly offered to licensed practitioners.
"In reality, these presentations were a sham – they often functioned as social events at restaurants, lacked the appropriate audience of licensed practitioners who could prescribe Subsys, and many of the purported signatures on the speaker program sign-in sheets were forged," according to Honig's office.According to police, Gazi also prescribed high-dose Adderall to a drugstore owner who filled many of his Subsys prescriptions, as well as the pharmacy owner's significant other, in order to persuade the pharmacy owner to keep filling his Subsys prescriptions.
Gazi is also accused of causing fraudulent claims to be submitted to Medicare, New Jersey Medicaid, and other health insurance providers for Subsys and Adderall prescriptions that he wrote, which were induced through kickbacks, medically unnecessary, and not eligible for reimbursement, according to authorities.According to Honig, he also plotted with others to distribute these potent opioids outside of the normal course of professional practice and for no valid medical purpose.
What is Fentanyl?
According to the DrugAbuse.gov, Fentanyl is a strong synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. It is a prescribed medicine that is also illegally manufactured and consumed. It's a drug that's similar to morphine in that it's used to treat people who are in a lot of pain, especially after surgery.
It's also used to treat chronic pain patients who are physically tolerant of other opioids. Tolerance develops when you require a greater and/or more frequent dose of a medicine to achieve the desired results.
