When you read throughs this, 11 drums of misbranded drugs, that’s a bit scary for starters. I am guessing perhaps generics were maybe sold as name brands, or generics were bought from outside the US and relabeled and the story stated the drugs were purchased from a non licensed facility.
Agents also found controlled substances such as Oxcycodone and a few others that had all expired. One item in particular that was a bit disturbing was the drum Metformin for diabetes that was mislabeled which is an oral medication for diabetes, it was not only fraud but patient safety here at hand. BD
U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis sentenced Pamela Arrey, age 49, of Glenelg, Maryland, a licensed pharmacist, to 57 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for health care fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to misbrand pharmaceuticals. Judge Garbis also entered an order that Arrey forfeit her home and pay restitution of $505,745.89.
According to her guilty plea, Arrey owned and operated two pharmacies trading as the Medicine Shoppe, located on Liberty Road and Reisterstown Road in Baltimore. From January 2003 to July 2008, Arrey identified patients who had filled prescriptions at her pharmacies and for whom the physician authorized refills that had never been requested. Arrey then claimed reimbursement from health care benefit programs, using patients' personal identifying information, for "refills" of those prescriptions, for which no prescription drugs were ever dispensed to customers. Arrey's pharmacies fraudulently obtained approximately $505,745 through this scheme. The proceeds of the scheme were deposited into her Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy bank account, which Arrey also used to pay the mortgage on her Glenelg home.
In addition, Arrey misbranded and relabeled prescription drugs she had purchased in large drums from an unlicensed supplier, for resale in her pharmacies. Arrey admitted that she filled prescription orders for pharmacy customers with misbranded pharmaceuticals, including Metformin, an oral diabetes medications used to help control blood sugar levels, and Gabapentin, an anti-epileptic medication used to treat seizures.