August 19, 2024: Gilead Sciences files a second suit over the sale of black market HIV drugs
Major Stories
A new lawsuit says that another ring has been selling counterfeit HIV medicine. Eli Lilly took action against compounders selling tirzepatide. Legislators questioned Meta about paid advertisements for prescription pills and illicit drugs.
In June, Gilead Sciences sued a second network of individuals and companies for allegedly selling used bottles of its prescription HIV medicine in New York and New Jersey pharmacies, sometimes with the wrong medicine inside them. Gilead’s complaint alleges that this ring was led by Peter Khaim, a convicted criminal named in the company’s July 2021 lawsuit over a similar scheme. Gilead’s defendants also include convicted black market drug trafficker Boris Aminov and several of his co-defendants.
Eli Lilly & Company sent cease-and-desist letters to telehealth companies, wellness practices and medical spas that have been selling compounded versions of Zepbound and Mounjaro, their tirzepatide-based weight-loss and diabetes medicines. Compounded versions of the drugs have spiked in popularity as drugmakers have been unable to keep up with demand, but they can present safety issues.
Some of the defendants in Gilead's suit are being prosecuted for distributing black market drugs. Learn more.
In an August 16 editorial in The Hill, PSM board member Kenneth McCall warned about the dangers of counterfeit and poorly compounded weight-loss and diabetes injectables and called on authorities to better educate and protect Americans.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers challenged Meta about advertisements that promote Illicit drugs on Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp.Their August 15 letter says the technology company monetized ads “throughout 2024” that sold OxyContin, brightly colored pills and other illicit drugs.
Domestic News
A Massachusetts man was indicted for making counterfeit pills. A lab owner in California is facing additional charges for selling unapproved COVID tests.
A grand jury in Massachusetts indicted a Cambridge man who allegedly manufactured over 200 kilograms of counterfeit pills made of fentanyl and methamphetamine. During the investigation, authorities seized over five kilograms of suspected counterfeit Adderall pills containing methamphetamine; pill presses, pill press parts and molds; and documentation of sales of equipment and supplies for the operation.
The owner of Universal Meditech Inc. and Prestige Biotech Inc. in Fresno and Reedley, California and his partner are facing additional conspiracy and wire fraud charges after allegedly selling unapproved COVID-19 test kits between August 2020 and March 2023. According to court documents, they made $1.7 million by smuggling hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 test kits from China into the United States by declaring them as pregnancy tests, and sold them to buyers with false claims that they were FDA-approved and manufactured in the United States.
In July, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to Central Admixture Pharmacy Services in San Diego, California. The 503B registered compounding facility was shut down in October 2023 after the agency found violations of current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) and dangerous deficiencies in sterility. According to the letter, FDA inspectors also found CGMP deficiencies and insanitary conditions at the company’s Allentown and Phoenix facilities.
An example of unapproved rapid test kits Universal Meditech Inc. recalled in 2023. (Source: Universal-Meditech.com)
International News
Statistics indicate an uptick in unlicensed medicines in Scotland.
Scotland is experiencing a surge in unlicensed prescription drug sales. The U.K.’s drug regulator, MHRA, seized over 509,000 doses of illegal medicines bound for Scotland, approximately six times the 84,600 doses seized in 2022-23. Authorities confiscated epilepsy treatments, erectile dysfunction medicines, weight loss injections, steroids, antipsychotics, and, troublingly, the breast cancer treatment tamoxifen.
Authorities in Northern Ireland also reported seizing tamoxifen during Operation Pangea in 2022.