The crime drama film “Pain Hustlers,” directed by David Yates and available on Netflix, explores the Opioid Crisis years and the role played by a particular pharmaceutical corporation in them. Supporting the story of sales professional Liza Drake, the movie shows how the selfish greed of a single mother destroyed her life. Zanna, a large pharmaceutical business, makes unsuccessful attempts to introduce Lonafen, a ground-breaking cancer painkiller, onto the market. But when Liza Drake joins the team at her lowest point, she works with the management of the organisation to create something truly amazing through their Speaker Programme.
However, Zanna founder Jack Neel’s avarice intensifies under Lonafen’s control to the point of its ultimate demise, trapping Liza in an eternal moral predicament. The movie provokes a natural curiosity regarding how different characters relate to real-life personalities because it has some undeniable real-world foundations. One such curious figure is Jack Neel, the formidable leader of the Pharma Company who initiates the movie’s story. What you need to know about the beginnings of his character is provided here.
John Kapoor and Insys Therapeutics
John Kapoor, the actual founder of the pharmaceutical business Insys Therapeutics, served as inspiration for a portion of Jack Neel. The movie “Pain Hustlers” is titled “based on a true story,” even though it is not a biographical account of reality, despite its mockumentary narration style. Because of this, the majority of the people, things, and situations shown in the movie are inspired subconsciously by real-life counterparts. In the instance of Jack Neel, his persona appears to be greatly influenced by John Kapoor, a former millionaire and pharmaceutical entrepreneur implicated in the Insys Scandal surrounding the Opioid Crisis.
Like Jack Neel and Zanna, John Kapoor founded Insys in response to his wife Editha’s 2005 suffering and passing from metastatic breast cancer. Even while Kapoor’s experiences are not exactly the same as Neel’s made-up tale, they both led to the creation of an opioid painkiller, so that’s where the similarities end. of reality, Fentanyl was the active element of the spray medication Subsys, which was created by Kapoor’s business.
Due to the high overdose death rate associated with the extremely addictive painkiller fentanyl, Subsys’ widespread off-label prescribing by physicians contributed to the same problem, creating challenges for Kapoor and his business. Moreover, Insys used a tough Speaker Programme strategy in which they bought physicians to write Subsys prescriptions for their patients in an effort to make a lasting impression on the market and generate enormous profits. As a result, the business quickly ran into legal issues, and the founder of Insys was arrested in 2017.
“In the midst of a nationwide opioid epidemic that has reached crisis proportions, Mr. Kapoor and his company stand accused of bribing doctors to overprescribe a potent opioid and committing fraud on insurance companies solely for profit,” Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb stated at the time of Kapoor’s arrest. Ultimately, the founder of the pharmaceutical company was found guilty by the authorities of several offences, including fraud, bribery, and racketeering conspiracy plans. The man was sentenced to five and a half years in prison along with a heavy fine.
As a result, it is still simple to see how John Kapoor and “Pain Hustlers” Jack Neel are comparable. In addition, the former man is a major character in Evan Hughes’ book “Pain Hustlers: Crime and Punishment at an Opioid Startup,” which was first released under the title “The Hard Sell.” Neel’s fictitious persona was probably developed from Kapoor by screenwriter Wells Tower, since the movie uses this book as the basis for its story.
However, Andy Garcia’s portrayal of John Kapoor in the movie is only a somewhat accurate portrayal of the real man, altered and fictionalised to suit the story and humorous genre choices. It’s crucial to keep in mind that not all of Neel’s characteristics and deeds may be linked to Kapoor and vice versa. Nevertheless, it’s hard to avoid drawing comparisons between Neel’s character and Kapoor’s example, even with plenty of creative freedom and other fictional lenses.
