tonight, the pharmaceutical company that allegedly u s appeal, schemes and cash to get doctors to prescribe a potentially fatal opioid. >> hired drug reps that had no industry experience whatsoever. >> reporter: now a whistle blower who says she's coming clean. >> i took this job thinking i was going to be helping people, and i was killing people. >> and the price some people say they paid in the name of profits. >> this is what they took from us. i don't know how these people put this head on theple owe a p sleep at night. >> this special edition of "nightline," painkillers, will be right back be right back

. this special edition of "nightline," "painkillers", continues. here now, juju chang. >> my biggest regret is my children having to suffer the anguish of seeing their daddy in and out of hospitals and struggling to regain his health. >> reporter: a battle weary hero who says he came closest to death thanks to a doctor's

prescription. a tormented whistle-blower who feels she's trying to make up for past sins. >> i took this job thinking i was going to be helping people, and i was killing people. >> reporter: a small-town attorney on a crusade against big pharma. >> i do not know how they look in the mirror, and i do not know how they put their head on the pillow at night. >> reporter: all united for one common cause, to hold one company and its executives responsible for what they say is their role in the opioid crisis. >> charged in boston federal court. >> accused of bribing doctors to prescribe an opioid. >> abc news, do you have any comments on the allegation on the case. >> reporter: the rags to riches found founder stands accused of a scheme, a criminal indictment accuse them of coaxing doctors with money and sexual favors. a fentanyl spray for pain for

thousands who didn't need it. their now former company told abc news it in no way defends the past misconduct of former employees and is fully cooperating with the government. >> any comment? >> reporter: then prosecutors say, put profits over people, defrauding insurance companies to help pay for it all. >> which medication are you calling about? >> reporter: prescription drugs like subsys are responsible for more than a third of opioid deaths, yet no pharmaceutical executive has ever been convicted in a criminal case. prosecutors now hoping to change that, using federal racketeering charges, usually reserved for mobsters. the potential toll from this drug breathtaking. more than 7,000 deaths have been reported of people taking subsys, according to the fda adverse events reporting system. people who didn't have cancer but were prescribed the drug

anyway. >> make you wonder whether they should be charged with homicide. >> reporter: jeffrey never imagined he would end up in a shelter like this for homeless veterans. when we first met him last year he told us about his three tours of duty in iraq where he says he was hit by multiple ied blasts. hundred a broken back. >> the vertebrae had slipped off each other and the back was in jeopardy of sliding off and causing paralysis if not worse. >> reporter: he flourished, settling in maryland where he started a family. what did it mean to you to be a dad? >> everything. it's the strength that you need when you don't feel like there's anything else to give you the motivation, to be the better version of yourself. >> hey! >> reporter: but there were still moments when the pain was unbearable. give me a laundry list of the painkillers you've been on. >> i don't think there's one i haven't been on. are yo . >> reporter: percocet. >> percocet, oxycodone.

>> reporter: were you addicted to any of those? i was taking more than i should, sleeping wrong, taking a fall where my back would flare up. i couldn't move. when that would happen, i'd always have to go to the emergency room to get treated. >> reporter: then, in 2010, he thought he found a better approach when he was introduced to a new doctor, william tam, a pain specialist in annapolis, maryland. >> this initially came out with him saying there's this new medication i think will keep you out of the emergency room. >> reporter: that medication, subsys, 50 times more powerful than heroin. >> squeeze your fingers and thumb together to spray subsys under your tongue. >> reporter: it was fda approved for severe cancer pain, but jeff and thousands like him were prescribed the drug off label, a legal and common practice for many drugs but tightly regulated for opiates. >> this is approved for one reason only, that's for cancer

pain. >> reporter: it didn't matter that jeff didn't have cancer pain says a former employee. could you estimate what percent of the patients you prior authorized had cancer? >> i would say from my experience, around 10 first. >> reporte . >> reporter: what mattered was that they were insured. >> they were asking me to lie to insurance companies about having cancer. a lot of it was word games. when the insurance company would ask the question, does the patient have cancer with break through cancer pain, when we would respond, we would say yes, we're treating the break through pain. >> reporter: prosecutors allege that insurance fraud was just one part of the scheme.e.e. dissatisfied with sales they began a to increase awareness. these programs are legal and common to teach doctors about

new drugs. but prosecutors say they used theirs as a front for bribes. pointing to, changes like this. >> one of the things they do is identify medical providers, physicians who are high prescribers of only yopioids. >> reporter: dr. tam was allegedly part of the series. government records show he received $55,000 from insys between 2013 and 2016. >> they were setting up sham speaking events. it was a means to have a fancy dinner and act like they were putting on an educational event that was legitimate. >> reporter: in exchange, what happened to subsys prescriptions? >> they skyrocketed. >> reporter: they would also treat doctors to lavish meals, often accompanied by sales reps like amanda. >> i didn't have a strong connection with anyone. >> reporter: a former reality show participant and playboy

model. insys routinely used sex appeal to drive prescriptions. >> i have never seen such in your face, such egregious behavior, hiring drug reps that had no industry experience whatsoever, strippers. just people who didn't have college degrees, had no understanding of the fda and regulations. >> reporter: socializing with doctors was a corporate strategy. company e-mail showed then vice president of sales pressuring his staff in one of his many directives. and the strategy paid off. between 2012 and 2013 the company saw more than 1,000% growth and net revenue of subsys sales, making it the darling of wall street. execs all smiles as they opened the ndaq exchange. the following year, subsys became the most widely-prescribed drug of its type. by them, capour, a soft-spoking

immigrant became one of the richest people in america. all the while, halg his drug as a win for patients and shareholders alike. >> that product that we launched three years ago, today, this year will do close to $300 million. ♪ i got new patients ♪ and i got a lot of'em >> reporter: she's are insys reps, rapping about their conquests showcased at a national sales meeting in 2015. under the fentanyl costume, the vp of sales. meanwhile, jeff says he was edging closer and closer to death. >> the come to jesus moment was probably when i was in the e.r. the nurses were scared to death to give me those doses. >> reporter: the doses were so off the charts. >> so off the charts. >> reporter: you were taking the equivalent of 5,000 percocet a day? >> yes, or they say equivalent to a gram of heroin. >> reporter: a day. >> a day.

>> reporter: jeff has filed a lawsuit against dr. tam, capoor and insys. there were more than 7,000 deaths associated with subsys and cited 951 cases of patients who passed away while on or having been suspected to have been on subsys and attempting to link the death of cancer patients to their use of subsys is inaccurate and misleading. john capoor has pled not guilty. in response to the allegations made by jeff, the attorneys told abc news they have no comment. >> thanks, sweet heart. >> reporter: that near-death hospital visit was the breaking point, jeff says. he spent years working to get clean. >> miss you guys. >> reporter: he's escaped the grips of fentanyl but lost so much else he held dear. >> why i survived, you know, when i shouldn't have, i owe it to myself, my family and all those who didn't to get my story

out and to get back to the top of the mountain. >> reporter: when we come back, the moment a whistle-blower says she came clean. you were getting anxiety attacks? >> horrible anxiety attacks. >> reporter: why? >> i knew what i was doing was wrong. >> reporter: hear the evidence yourself. >> if they didn't make that call, she would have never been approved for the drug. >> reporter: stay with us. stay with us. that's good for ? now i don't have to choose. from crest 3d white. the whitening therapy collection. now with charcoal or coconut oil. it gently whitens. plus, it has a fortifying formula to protect your enamel. crest. healthy, beautiful smiles for life. thanks to move free ultra 2in1... i keep up with this little one. see the world with this guy. and hit the town with these girls. in a clinical study, 4 out of 5 users felt better joint comfort. move free ultra. movement keeps us connected. how do you get skin happy aveeno® with prebiotic oat. it hydrates and softens skin. so it looks like this...

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the interest's office. >> reporter: at insys therapeutics, patty nixon says lying was part of the job. >> we're instructed to say we were calling from the physician's office that was treating that particular patient. >> reporter: even though you knew you were calling from the pharmaceutical company. >> correct. i was in a very small office in chandler, arizona, and i would call alaska and say i was from alaska. and sometimes i was from hawaii. i was from wherever the patient was from, and wherever the doctor was located. >> reporter: her role, she says, getting insurance companies to sign off on payments for subsys prescriptions. one part of a years-long scheme that cheated millions of dollars, including from medicare. the lies based on a script patty says that insys executives instructed her to follow, what they called the spiel. >> a lot of it was word games. when the insurance company would ask the question, does the patient have cancer with break through cancer pain, and when we would respond, we would say yes,

we're treating the break through pain. so eliminating the word cancer. >> reporter: what's the most haunting part of it for you? >> that people have died and that, knowingly or unknowingly, it doesn't matter. i was a part of it. >> just quirky. she was really sweet. >> reporter: there is a quiet stillness in devora's home. here, her daughter sarah was planning her wedding. >> she was over the moon. >> reporter: sarah was battling chronic pain after a sear eavri car accident. they eventually turned to a new jersey physician. ? i said sarah is addicted to painkillers. so when you deal with her chronic pain, you got to find another avenue. >> reporter: but devora says the doctor disregarded the family's

plea. in january 2015 she prescribed sarah subsys, a fentanyl spray specifically for severe cancer pain in an appointment that was accompanied by an insys rep. and one day later, that sales rep texting her manager about how to get the doctor into the insys speakers program, a front, prosecutors say, to bribe doctors for prescribing their drug. >> what is the patient's last name and date of birth? >> the last name is fuller. >> this is the ledger. >> reporter: the family's attorney, richard hollowell says he was able to track down exactly how sarah got that fatal prescription. getting a subpoena for the phone call from the rep pretending to be from the doctor's office. >> you're calling from the doctor's office, correct? >> i would call it the murder weapon, the smoking gun. >> reporter: then

misrepresenting her diagnosis. >> okay. and what's diagnosis for the patient? >> let me look here, medication intended for the management of break through cancer pain. >> when i found out what it was designed for, to put these people in comfort when they're terminal, but why was sarah taking it? she did not have cancer at all. >> if they did not make that call she would never have been approved for the drug. this is the carton that would come to ms. fuller's home. >> reporter: this looks like a drugstore. >> this box alone is really disturbing. >> reporter: this is one month's supply. >> this is one month's supply, a 600 micro gram spray. >> reporter: and this is $24,000 worth of pharmaceuticals in one box. >> in this box. >> reporter: as insys and john capoor's valuation climbed into the billions, sarah fuller's life was spiraling out of control as medicare paid more than $250,000 for a drug her

family says she should never had. >> she was extremely lethargic. her complexion paled. it was literally killing her. >> reporter: just under 15 months after sarah began taking subsys, she died. she was 32 years old. her family sued insys and the doctor for negligence and wrongful death. >> sarah loved butterflies. purple. her wedding day, we all met here, her fiance, us. it was just really surreal, because we should be in a church. watching her walk down the aisle. and go to a great reception. but that's not how it happened. >> i feel like if i would have spoke up sooner then maybe i could have saved her life. you know. i don't think people really understand what it's like to

live with this. >> reporter: patty had left insys before sarah fuller's death, consumed by guilt and regret for her role in the prescription of subsys to countless patients. she testified before a grand jury during the indictment of insys' former ceo. >> it was really scary. i had to tell the truth. i had to tell my job was and what i did. and what i did was illegal. so that was, that was really scary. i wasn't sure what was going to happen to me. >> reporter: and you were willing to face the consequences. >> absolutely. >> reporter: you weren't asking to get out of -- >> no. >> reporter: responsibility. >> no. i didn't, i didn't ask for any plea deal. i'm not trying to profit from this in anyway, shape or form. >> reporter: last marks the new jersey board of medical examiners revoked dr. madalon's medical license, the doctor

claimed she was misled, they reached a settlement for an undisclosed sum without acknowledgement of wrongdoing. meanwhile, the trial of executives continues through april. >> what would you say to him if he was in this room right now? >> first of all, i'd say you killed my daughter and i hope you rot in prison. i hope you die in prison, you don't deserve to be out in the world because you poisoned it. >> reporter: do you think a fine is enough? >> no, absolutely not. that would fuel the industry practices that have fueled this opioid epidemic, and that would be disastrous. who's got the time to chase around down dirt, dust and hair? so now, i use heavy duty swiffer sweeper and dusters. for hard-to-reach places, duster makes it easy to clean. it captures dust in one swipe.

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