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Emily Blunt and Chris Evans’s latest hit movie, Pain Hustlers, discusses a pharmaceutical company pushing its drug illegally through legal chains. The company bribed doctors to prescribe a painkiller named Lonafen to patients who did not need it. The medication caused addiction and overdose-related deaths, leading to a federal investigation.
Netflix presents the opioid crisis in America through this movie, which is inspired by actual events and a real-life pharmaceutical company. The real events have led to the company's closing down, with legal action being taken against the perpetrators. However, the lead character of Liza is fictional as are some other supporting characters.
While the movie is based on actual events, the drug, Lonafen, is not a real-life drug. The writers and makers of Pain Hustlers have taken some creative liberties, such as adding a fictional protagonist and changing names wherever applicable.
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the movie.
Pain Hustlers’ Lonafen is not available for real
The drug shown in the movie, named Lonafen, is not a real drug. However, it shares essential components with a real-life opioid, Fentanyl. Fentanyl is the opioid approved by the FDA, only to be used to alleviate breakthrough pain caused by cancer.
However, the movie shows the criminality of the medical field that forces non-cancer patients to use the drug. The film highlights the chain of greed, starting from the pharma company that makes the drug to the bribed doctors prescribing the drug “off-label”, with the sales representatives’ higher pay with higher sales in the middle of the chain.
Just like the drug, Lonafen, the pharmaceutical company's name, Zanna, is also fictional. The lead character, Liza, her daughter, and her mother are not based on any real people either.
What is the movie Pain Hustlers about?
The Netflix flick underlines the opioid addiction and overdose issue currently troubling America by fictionalizing a famous true event along the same lines. The movie presents the story of Zanna Pharmaceutical Company, which makes and sells a potent painkiller, Lonafen, with Fentanyl as its main component.
The company, owned by Dr Jack Neel, played by Andy Garcia, revives from bankruptcy when one employee, Pete Brenner, played by Chris Evans, appoints Liza Drake as a sales representative.
Liza, played by Emily Blunt, manages to convince doctor Lydell, to prescribe Lonafen to his cancer patients. However, soon, the company representatives started bribing and convincing doctors to push the drug to non-cancer patients. This causes addictions, overdoses, and death, and escalates into a federal investigation, leading to Liza questioning her position and values.
How much of Pain Hustlers is real?
The storyline of Pain Hustlers, written by Wells Tower and directed by David Yates, takes inspiration from the actual events reported by journalist Evan Hughes about the Arizona-based pharmaceutical company Insys Therapeutics, which made and sold a potent painkiller named Subsys.
Subsys was a spray medicine that used a liquid form of Fentanyl, as shown in the movie, but with the name changed to Lonafen. Subsys belonged to the class of TIRF drugs that were exclusively approved for cancer pain by the FDA, as reported by the New York Times. While aware that Subsys was highly addictive, Insys built a team of sales personnel who bribed doctors to force the drug on patients with milder issues.
The company was charged with bribery, fraud, and dishonest business dealings, and its owner, John Kapoor, was sentenced to five and half years of imprisonment in 2020.
Debuted on October 20, 2023, Pain Hustlers is currently running in select theatres in the US and is available for streaming on Netflix by 27 October 2023.
