New Jersey is moving to revoke the medical license of a Warren County doctor allegedly connected to an opioid maker recently accused in a state lawsuit of a “greed-driven” campaign of pushing doctors to write prescriptions for one of its key painkillers.

On Oct. 17, the state moved to revoke the license of Dr. Kenneth Sun of Phillipsburg, a pain management practitioner, for “indiscriminately” prescribing the Insys Therapeutic Inc. drug Subsys. The state claims the patients did not meet the criteria for receiving the medication. Sun heads a group called New Jersey Progressive Pain Solutions.

Sun denies the allegations.

The complaint, filed with the state Board of Medical Examiners, said Sun was paid up to $12,100 a month by Insys for speaking engagements and consulting services, while at the same time prescribing Subsys, a tightly restricted oral spray medication approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) strictly for use in treating breakthrough cancer pain in opioid-tolerant patients.

The complaint says that a reasonable person would recognize that Sun received those payments for prescribing Subsys, in violation of board regulations.

While paying Sun, Insys closely monitored Sun's prescribing habits, frequently reminding him of the need to keep prescribing Subsys; notified Sun when the number of his prescriptions dipped too low; and encouraged him to “keep them rolling” when he received insurance approval to start another patient on the drug, the complaint alleges.

Sun allegedly wrote more than 775 Subsys prescriptions from 2012 through 2016. The complaint claims he indiscriminately prescribed the drug to eight patients who were not suffering from breakthrough cancer pain or who were already on stable pain management prescribing routines. His prescriptions generated more than $4.8 million in revenues for Insys and earned Sun $136,768 in compensation from the drug company, according to the state.

“We contend that Dr. Sun and Insys were working together to make money in the cruelest and sickest way possible, by pushing a dangerous and addictive opioid painkiller on patients who didn't need it and weren't approved to receive it,” Porrino said in a statement.

Sun's attorney, Zahid Quraishi, issued a statement on Sun's behalf.

“Dr. Sun denies the allegations contained in the complaint. In his nearly 25 years of practice, he has never been the subject of disciplinary proceedings, he has never been the subject of a patient complaint, and there is no evidence that any of his patients suffered injury as a result of his prescribing practices,” said Quraishi, of Morristown's Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti.

“[T]he Attorney General's Office seeks ex post facto regulation of physicians with respect to off-label prescribing and paid speaking and consulting engagements.  As some already have, we invite concerned medical associations and physicians to publicly denounce what amounts to strict liability for legitimate practices common to nearly every physician in New Jersey.  Dr. Sun welcomes the opportunity to present his case in full to the Medical Board,” Quraishi said.

The Division of Consumer Affairs sued Chandler, Arizona-based Insys earlier this month. That complaint charges that Insys unlawfully directed its sales force to push Subsys for prescription to a broader patient population—patients suffering any type of chronic pain—and at higher doses. The division claims Insys's conduct has put “hundreds” of lives in jeopardy and “led to the death of at least one New Jersey resident,” a 32-year-old Camden County woman, Sarah Fuller of Stratford, who allegedly was prescribed Subsys for fibromyalgia.

In addition, the Insys suit, claiming violation of the New Jersey False Claims Act, alleges that two New Jersey state employee health benefit plans paid a total of approximately $10.3 million to reimburse Subsys prescriptions between 2012 and the third quarter of 2016, while the state workers' compensation program paid another $300,000.

From the 2012 market launch of Subsys until the present, the drug has accounted for approximately 98 percent of net revenues for Insys, according to the state. Insys, which has raised the price of Subsys every year since its launch, sold $74.2 million worth of the drug in New Jersey between 2012 and the third quarter of 2016, the lawsuit said.

Also earlier this month, Porrino proposed new rules limiting the amount of money and gifts doctors may receive in an effort to reduce the number of prescriptions written.

Contact the reporter at [email protected]. On Twitter: @mboothnjlj.