Feds charge company with selling drugs in U.S. manufactured for foreign markets

A Canadian drug company and its three top officers have been charged in Pittsburgh with conspiring to distribute misbranded prescription drugs in the U.S., with three Pittsburgh-area pharmacists as customers.

The U.S. Attorney’s office on Tuesday said Quantum Solutions, registered in Barbados and run by Tony Lee, Billy Lee and Tarnjeet Uppal, all of Vancouver, bought drugs manufactured for foreign markets and then sold them wholesale to three local pharmacists.

The charges were filed Monday in U.S. District Court in the form of an information, or direct complaint, as opposed to a grand jury indictment.

In addition to conspiracy, the three officers also are charged with conspiracy to launder money. None had yet acquired an attorney who could be contacted for comment.

The three area pharmacists are not identified in the charging documents except for their initials — JM, BP and KE.

A manager at Quantum who lives in New York, identified only as KKN, also was implicated for his role in repackaging drug shipments for distribution in the U.S. Another member of the conspiracy, identified as MI, lived in Washington state and acted as a reshipper there for the same purpose.

None of the individuals identified by initials had been charged with any crimes. Typically in such cases, that indicates they are cooperating with the investigation as part of plea negotiations, but the U.S. Attorney’s office will not comment on pending cases.

According to the investigation by the Food and Drug Administration and the criminal division of the IRS, Quantum bought drugs from suppliers in Turkey, Britain

and elsewhere and arranged for shipments to be sent to a re-shipper in the U.K.

The re-shipper unpacked the drugs, repacked them in smaller packages, put misleading labeling on them and understated the dollar value of the contents in order to fool U.S. Customs and Border Protection into believing the drugs were health care products intended for personal use by the addressee.

The smaller packages were then sent to the re-shippers in Washington state and New York, where they were unpacked again and repacked for delivery in the U.S.

The U.S. attorney said wholesale amounts were bought by the three area pharmacists, who paid for the drugs with wire transfers, checks and credit cards from the Pittsburgh area and sent to Canada and Barbados.

The drugs sold, which included such medications such as Celebrex, used to treat arthritis, and the statin Lipitor, did not meet FDA approval because they were made and labeled for use outside the U.S., prosecutors said.

In addition to the criminal counts, the U.S. attorney’s complaint is seeking forfeiture of $4.2 million.