Articles by Janelle Lawrence

State’s Purdue Opioid Suit Tests Holding Family, Purdue Directors Liable for Crisis

Massachusetts took Purdue Pharma LP to task in a Boston courtroom Friday, blaming the opioid maker and the billionaire Sackler family that owns it for causing “thousands of people to suffer and many to die.” The state has proof Purdue …

Jury Finds Insys Founder, Execs Guilty of Racketeering in Opioid Sales

Insys Therapeutics Inc. founder John Kapoor was convicted of a racketeering conspiracy that drove sales of a highly addictive opioid while contributing to a nationwide epidemic. Federal jurors in Boston found that Kapoor conspired with four other executives to bribe …

Opioid Trial Winds Down; Insys Execs Deny Bribing Doctors, Duping Insurers

A U.S. prosecutor portrayed Insys Therapeutics Inc. founder John Kapoor and other former executives as greedy and heartless during closing arguments in their racketeering trial over the promotion of the opioid painkiller Subsys. Kapoor and four other ex-Insys managers “exploited” …

Jurors Told How Insys Chief Used Competitors’ Data to Drive Own Opioid Sales

Insys Therapeutics Inc. founder John Kapoor didn’t cut corners when it came to collecting intelligence on opioid sales, using the data to beat down his employees and to spur doctors to prescribe more of his highly addictive painkiller, a Boston …

How High-Pressure Insys Prescription Call Center Lied to Insurers to Sell Opioids

The goal for Insys Therapeutics Inc.’s call center in Phoenix was simple: persuade insurers to authorize at least 70 prescriptions a week of its expensive opioid spray. Workers would get bonuses for surpassing the goals, a former call center manager …

Admissions Bias Claim Against Harvard Must Go to Bench Trial

Harvard, the nation’s oldest university, must go to trial to defend a lawsuit claiming it discriminates against Asian-American applicants. A Boston federal judge’s rejection Friday of requests by both sides for a win before trial sets up a final showdown …

Smokers Ask Jury to Award Them Cancer Screening in Trial Over Marlboros

Philip Morris USA should pay for annual chest scans for thousands of longtime Marlboro smokers in Massachusetts because the company sold a defective and unreasonably dangerous product, a lawyer for the smokers told jurors at the close of a trial. …

Boston Taxi Owner Suit Latest Legal Salvo in Rideshare Wars

Taxi owners accused Boston officials of violating their constitutional rights by permitting Uber Technologies Inc. and other ride-sharing services to operate on city streets. The cabbies, in a lawsuit filed last Friday by the Boston Taxi Owners Association, fault the …

Boston Uber Driver Charged With Raping Woman Who Sought Ride

A Boston man who works as an Uber Technologies Inc. driver was charged with taking a woman to a secluded area and raping her, as questions about the company’s driver-screening process prompted it to begin an assessment of its safety …

Former NECC Supervisor Pleads Not Guilty in 2012 Meningitis Case

A Boston-area pharmacist pleaded not guilty to a charge stemming from the deadly 2012 U.S. meningitis outbreak, a week after he was arrested attempting to board a flight to Hong Kong. Glenn Chin, who was a supervisor at the now-bankrupt …