Bribes alleged in sales policy for AIDS drug

USA TODAY, December, 2004 by Donna Leinwand

A New York sales representative for a Swiss biotechnology company was charged Tuesday by federal prosecutors with bribing doctors to write prescriptions for an expensive AIDS drug.

Adam Stupak, 40, of Hewlett, N.Y., allegedly offered doctors in New York City an all-expenses-paid trip to a medical conference in Cannes, France, if they wrote at least 10 prescriptions for Serostim, a drug used to treat chronic weight loss in AIDS patients, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Boston.

The complaint charges Stupak with three counts of bribery. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 15 years in prison and $225,000 in fines.

Stupak did not return messages left on his cellphone. His attorney, Evan Slavitt, said Stupak was ordered by Serono, the company that manufacturers the drug, to make the offer to doctors in his sales area.

"Adam was ...