Page 21 - Boca Club News - May '24

Boca Club News, Page 21
Film Review: “Pain Hustlers”

By Nils A. Shapiro Hughes, whose subsequent book on the subject became has been brought effectively to the screen by a director,
In 2018, The New York the basis for this film of the same title, Pain Hustlers, David Yates, better known for his earlier successes with
Times Magazine section which was released in the U.S. last October and began the more magical Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts film
ran an article about the streaming recently on Netflix. series.
rapid rise and fall of an While more than one of the lead characters in the film A good part of the credit for this film’s success must go
American pharmaceutical are amalgams of several different people who worked to the uniformly excellent performances of its cast. Pain
company, Insys, that in the actual company, Insys, the story it tells is one Hustlers is a fictionalized version of the story of the real
used unethical sales and that will not surprise anyone even remotely aware of company, whose actual billionaire owner is portrayed here
marketing methods to the headline-making crises our nation has been facing by Andy Garcia as a wealthy scientist who has developed
promote a product the with such opioids as oxycontin and fentanyl, and the a drug that alleviates the pain suffered by late-stage cancer
top executives knew was sometimes questionable policies followed and decisions patients. Although he owns his company—here named
dangerous to the patients made even today by some of our nation’s pharmaceutical Zanna Pharmaceuticals—controls the Board and makes all
for whom it would be companies—an industry that employs no fewer than 1,800 the important final decisions, for public purposes he has
prescribed—a case not lobbyists promoting its interests in Washington, D.C. to all official documents prepared and signed by corporate
unlike that of the more keep Americans paying twice as much for its products as executives…as it turns out, in order to “keep his own
recent Sackler family’s enormously successful release and those in other countries around the world. hands ‘clean.’”
distribution of the opioid oxycontin without revealing the From the standpoint of our nation’s health system and But before we as viewers enter the tough side of the
truth about its addictive nature. the great number of people who have been harmed, this pharmaceutical world, we are introduced to Liza Drake
The article attracted the attention of author Evan is the kind of horror story all too real that, ironically, (Emily Blunt), a single mother of an ll-year-old girl,
Phoebe, who suffers from epileptic seizures. Liza has
financial problems that have forced her to check the
two of them in at a cheap motel. She works as a pole
dancer at a strip bar, where she approaches an attractive
man, Pete Brenner (Chris Pine) who clearly has had too
much to drink. She learns that he is an executive at a
RAYMOND JAMES WELCOMES SOUTH FLORIDA pharmaceutical company and uses her “charms” and his
present condition to hit him up for a future job interview.

When she shows up unannounced at his office,
FINANCIAL ADVISOR MANAGING $105 MILLION interrupting an important Board meeting, Brenner—
realizing that she hasn’t even graduated from high school
but embarrassed because he had made up an excuse to the
Raymond James recently welcomed financial advisor Thera Elliott to Board about the importance of the interruption—quickly
Raymond James Financial Services (RJFS) – the firm’s independent advisor doctors her resume to state, for example, that she has a
graduate science degree and hires her for a sales position.
channel – according to Todd Gartrell, Southeast division director for RJFS. Liza, after several unsuccessful efforts to convince

Elliott arrives from Wells Fargo, where she previously managed doctors to prescribe Zanna’s new cancer pain-killing
drug, Lonafen—through determination bred of financial
approximately $105 million in client assets. Operating as Elliott Wealth desperation—manages to get one of the nation’s most
Strategies in Boca Raton, Florida, she is joined by office manager and important doctor prescribers to try it for his patients…
who is soon pleased to report that Lonafen does indeed
sales assistant Joy Lynn McGarity. Together they serve a variety of clients, work as promised!
With the company’s generous sales commission
including business owners, healthcare professionals, women investors, arrangements Liza soon discovers that her income has
retirees and families, with personalized planning to help meet their suddenly taken her from a strip bar pole dancer to earning
financial goals. $600,000 a year! From that start and Zanna’s sales and
marketing staff’s questionable corporate ethics policies,
“Raymond James stands out in the industry for its distinguished the company’s profits surge with Lonafen soon owning

reputation and client-first approach, which provides me with the freedom 86% of its market share. Both Liza and Pete are promoted
to top executive positions and Liza’s lively mother, Jackie
and flexibility to run my practice in a way that best suits my clients. In (Catherine O’Hara) has also joined the firm’s sales staff.
Meanwhile, such rapid corporate success has aroused
addition, its robust investment, banking, trust and insurance capabilities the attention of federal agents who have noted some
backed by a team of estate planning professionals can be highly beneficial decidedly more negative patient statistics that may be
to clients and business,” said Elliott. suspiciously related, and they want to speak with several
of the people associated with the company. The film’s
With nearly 20 years of industry experience, Elliott began her career in ending reveals the result of their investigation, and we
financial services and banking in 2006 and most recently spent 16 years at learn the secret about the product that was withheld by
Zanna’s owner-scientist from the company’s enthusiastic
Wells Fargo, where she became a financial advisor. A Florida native, she sales staff and their prescribing doctors.
Each of us will bring to this film—even before
is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University with a degree in accounting we watch a single moment of it—our own already
and finance. firm opinion of America’s pharmaceutical industry as
it operates today. On one hand, we depend on these
About Raymond James Financial Services companies to research and provide over-the-counter and
Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. (RJFS), member FINRA/SIPC, is a financial services firm supporting independent prescription medicines that relieve our health issues, albeit
financial advisors nationwide. Since 1974, RJFS provides a wide range of investment and wealth planning-related services often with our tax dollars helping to fund their critical
through its affiliate, Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC. Both firms are wholly research and development.
owned subsidiaries of Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE-RJF), one of the nation’s premier diversified financial services Yet, at least to many of us, there is something inherently
companies with approximately 8,700 financial advisors throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. Total client wrong in having that industry’s 1,800 lobbyists in D.C.
assets are approximately $1.42 trillion as of Feb. 29, 2024. Additional information is available at raymondjames.com. sent, as one example, to help block federal legislation
Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services that would help Americans from having to pay much
are offered through Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc. Elliott Wealth Strategies is not a registered broker/ more—often twice as much—for the same medications
dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. as people in other countries around the world. So when
we see excessive greed punished, on a screen relating the
actual facts of the true case, it’s a happy ending.

Raymond James Financial Services
Thera Elliott

301 E. Yamato Road, Suite 3160
Boca Raton, FL 33431 Captain’s was established in 1980 servicing
Palm Beach County and is a privately
561-241-6616 owned and managed company.
Thera.Elliott@Raymondjames.com Captain’s is committed to providing
dependable, reliable and professional
www.Elliottwealthstrategies.com ground transportation to and from all PBCVH212
South Florida Airports and Seaports.
To reserve your vehicle:
561-798-2180 or 800-634-7890 www.captainsairport.com