Big Pharma pair charged over opioids crisis
Two former executives of a leading US pharmaceutical company have been charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
The unprecedented prosecution came as Donald Trump vowed to crack down on abuses by Big Pharma that have fuelled America’s opioid epidemic, which claims the lives of nearly 50,000 people a year.
It was the first time senior corporate executives have faced criminal charges in connection with distributing powerful prescription painkillers such as oxycodone and fentanyl, which carry a high risk of addiction and overdose.
Laurence Doud, 75, pleaded not guilty in New York to charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to defraud the
US as chief executive of Rochester Drug Cooperative (RDC). He has been released on bail of US$500,000 (NZ$757,000).
The charges carry a minimum sentence of 10 years in jail.
William Pietruszewski, 53, pictured, has already pleaded guilty to the same charges as the company’s chief compliance officer.
RDC, based in New York, is one of America’s largest distributors of prescription opioids, supplying 1300 pharmacies, and has an annual turnover of more than US$1 billion. Prosecutors said it had failed to report at least 2000 suspicious orders of drugs and the executives were fulfilling orders they knew to be fraudulent. RDC employees had themselves described some of the company’s customers as ‘‘very suspicious’’, it was alleged.
The company also knew particular pharmacies it was supplying to be a ‘‘DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration] investigation in the making’’ or ‘‘like a stick of dynamite waiting for DEA to light the fuse’’. Prosecutors said: ‘‘Nonetheless, throughout the period in question, RDC, at the direction of Doud, increased its sales of oxycodone and fentanyl exponentially.’’
From 2012 to 2016, its annual sales of oxycodone tablets rose from 4.7 million to 42.2 million and its fentanyl sales from 63,000 to 1.3 million.
The company itself entered into a nonprosecution agreement with the attorney’s office in New York and agreed to pay a US$20 million fine.
It will not be prosecuted and will be allowed to retain its licence to distribute drugs, while promising to reform its practices.
In a statement, RDC admitted it had failed to report shipments of drugs it recognised as suspicious.
– Telegraph Group