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Hy-Vee pharmacist accused of stealing $71,000 worth of prescription drugs

posted 6 days ago
A former Hy-Vee pharmacy manager, facing multiple criminal charges related to the alleged theft of $71,000 worth of drugs, has agreed to surrender his license. Jeffrey Jack Bates, 42, of Indianola, is criminally charged with one count of felony first-degree theft, one count of tampering with records, one count of identity theft and eight counts of prohibited acts involving controlled substances. Read Article #ProviderArrest(s) #Iowa #RxFraud

Cheaper medicines, free beach trips: U.S. health plans tap prescriptions that feds say are illegal

posted 7 days ago
Every step is a struggle for Bruce Zimmerman, whose health has been deteriorating since he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis eight years ago. In 2019, Zimmerman said, his then-employer offered him an opportunity that sounded irresistible: He and his wife, Becky, could take all-expense-paid trips to the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas to retrieve the medication he needed, Avonex, a drug made by Biogen that currently retails in the U.S. for $2,159 per weekly dose. Through Florida-based PriceMDs, which paid for the couple’s travel, Zimmerman’s Avonex would be free of charge. Read Article #AdulteratedDrug #SafetyAlerts #PatientHarm

Deepfake scams target Ozempic buyers with fake ads, counterfeit drugs

posted 8 days ago
As weight-loss drugs like Ozempic soar in popularity, scammers are using AI deepfakes to sell fake products. Experts share how to spot phony endorsements and protect yourself online. See Video #GLP-1 #SafetyAlerts

‘More dangerous than heroin’: Fake skinny jabs smuggled into the UK

posted 13 days ago
Fake ‘skinny jabs’ produced in China are being smuggled into the UK in a black market described as “more dangerous than the supply of cocaine and heroin,” an investigation by ITV News has found. The supply chain has been linked to several hospitalisations in the UK - one woman had to be treated in intensive care. Our investigation also found that the suppliers are using counterfeit Mounjaro packaging, deceiving buyers who believe they are purchasing genuine weight-loss medications. Read Article #Counterfeit #SafetyAlerts #GLP-1

FDA warns websites selling fake or unapproved forms of Botox, similar drugs

posted 14 days ago
U.S. health regulators sent warning letters Wednesday to 18 websites selling counterfeit or unapproved versions of Botox and similar injectable drugs commonly used to smooth wrinkles. The Food and Drug Administration said it was taking action after receiving reports of injuries in connection with the products, including what it said were symptoms of botulism. Read Article #SafetyAlerts #Botox

Safe Chain Shows the DSCSA Is a Compliance Mandate and a Criminal Boundary

posted 16 days ago
Last week’s jury convictions of Safe Chain Solutions’ co-owners in United States v. Brosius, No. 1:24-cr-20255 (S.D. Fla.) coupled with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) enforcement make one conclusion unavoidable: The DSCSA is both a regulatory mandate and a criminal risk boundary. Read Article #DSCSA #CaseLawUpdates

Anti-falsified meds platform in US reaches 30+ states

posted 18 days ago
A product verification service developed by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) in the US has now been rolled out in more than 30 states, according to the organisation. The Pulse by NABP digital platform, developed to satisfy the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) regulations for pharmaceutical trading partners, includes a module known as the Pulse Verification Service (PVS) that can be used to spot suspected falsified medicines in the pharmacy supply chain. Read Full Article #DSCSA #GLP-1 #Counterfeit

2 US sheriffs and 12 officers charged in drug trafficking bribery scheme

posted 20 days ago
Federal authorities on Thursday announced indictments against 20 people, including 14 current or former Mississippi Delta law enforcement officers, that allege the officers took bribes to provide safe passage to people they believed were drug traffickers. The years-long investigation swept across multiple counties in the Mississippi Delta region of Mississippi and Tennessee. Two Mississippi sheriffs, Washington County Sheriff Milton Gaston and Humphreys County Sheriff Bruce Williams, were among those arrested. Read Article #DrugTraffickingOrganization(DTO) #FelonyArrest #Mississippi

Strategies for increasing participation in addiction treatment

posted 21 days ago
The Canadian province of British Columbia has been a widely influential font of libertarian drug policy that decriminalized drug use in private and in public, opposed any formal or social pressure on drug-addicted people to seek treatment, and distributed drugs to addicted individuals for unsupervised use, as I documented in a prior Brookings report . It is thus notable that the liberal premier of the province, David Eby, recently described those policies as a mistake , and he has been trumpeting an expansion of involuntary care capacity for addicted people, particularly for those who are homeless. Similar calls to rethink how to get more people ...

Green fentanyl emerging as new deadly threat, authorities say

posted 10-13-2025
The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office, working with local and federal partners, has issued a public safety alert about the emergence of “green fentanyl” on the Northshore and in the Greater New Orleans area. Read Article #EmerginingDrugTrend #Louisiana #Fentanyl #SafetyAlerts

Amazon launches prescription vending machines at One Medical clinics in Los Angeles

posted 10-08-2025
Amazon is launching prescription vending kiosks at select One Medical clinics in the Los Angeles area. The kiosks are operated by Amazon Pharmacy and stock a range of commonly prescribed medications, such as antibiotics, inhalers and blood pressure treatments. The launch comes as pharmacy chains Rite Aid, Walgreens and CVS have closed stores in recent years. Read Article #NewTechnology #California

DSCSA Compliance: Milestones, More Deadlines—and the Road Ahead

posted 10-07-2025
Key Takeaways The DSCSA enforcement for distributors enhances supply chain security but requires effective exception management to prevent disruptions. Dispensers must comply with DSCSA by November 2025 (large) and 2026 (small), with verification at receipt being critical. Tools like Verification Router Services and Authenticated Trade Partner tokens aid compliance, but provider evaluation is crucial. Failure to manage exceptions can lead to product destruction, return rejections, cash-flow disruption, and regulatory exposure Read Full Article #DSCSA

Fighting counterfeit medicines

posted 10-06-2025
Counterfeit medicines are, first and foremost, a crime against patients. By pretending to be genuine approved treatments when they are not, fake medicines put people at risk of treatment failure, complications, disability, and even death. They also threaten the hard-won trust that underpins our health system. Read Article #Counterfeit

Surgeons Handle New and Alarming Pathology—Xylazine Wounds

posted 10-01-2025
Over the past 2 decades, the US opioid epidemic has resulted in the deaths of 727,000 individuals by overdose alone1— and in recent years, a startling new complication of opioid use has emerged. Initially fueled by clinicians’ overprescription of opioid medications, the epidemic has long since shifted into a three-pronged mix of prescription opioids, heroin, and hyper-potent synthetic opioids, most notably fentanyl. Synthetic opioids now constitute much of the illicit drug supply and cause the largest share of overdose deaths.1 Read Article #Xylazine

Pharmacy Owner and Pharmacists Sentenced for Pill Mill Scheme Involving Hundreds of Thousands of Opioid Pills

posted 09-25-2025
A Texas pharmacy owner and three Texas pharmacists were sentenced today in Houston for unlawfully distributing more than half a million opioid pills and other commonly abused prescription drugs, including to individuals paid to pose as patients by black market drug traffickers. “While I served as the Attorney General of Florida, addressing the opioid crisis was one of my top priorities and remains a top priority at the Department of Justice today,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The opioid crisis has taken hundreds of thousands of lives and destroyed countless American families. Our enforcement efforts aren’t limited to cartels and gangs: anyone in the ...

More Than Two Million Illicit Vaping Products Seized in Nationwide Sweep

posted 09-25-2025
The Justice Department, together with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced today that recent actions targeting unauthorized flavored e-cigarettes, or vapes, resulted in the seizure of more than 2.1 million illicit vaping products taken from five distributors and six retailers across seven different states. In seizure complaints and accompanying court papers filed in U.S. District Court, the government alleged that the distributors and retailers where the electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products were seized received previous warnings from the FDA that their ENDS products required premarket authorization before they could legally ...

Treasury Sanctions Indian Nationals and Online Pharmacy for Supplying Counterfeit Fentanyl-Laden Pills

posted 09-24-2025
Pharmacies Pose as Legitimate Operations to Deceive Buyers WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two Indian nationals, Sadiq Abbas Habib Sayyed and Khizar Mohammad Iqbal Shaikh , for their role in collectively supplying hundreds of thousands of counterfeit prescription pills filled with fentanyl and other illicit drugs to victims across the United States. OFAC is also designating one India-based online pharmacy for its role in these criminal operations. “Too many families have been torn apart by fentanyl. Today, we are acting to hold accountable those who profit from this ...

MI: Southfield Doctor Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Illegally Prescribing More Than 200,000 Opioid pills worth more than $5.2 million

posted 09-24-2025
Dr. Charise Valentine, 69, of Southfield, was sentenced today to six years in prison based on her conviction following a jury trial on charges of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute prescription opioids, including Oxycodone and Oxymorphone, and 10 counts of illegal distribution of Oxycodone and Oxymorphone, United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. announced. Gorgon was joined in the announcement by Acting Special Agent in Charge Reuben Coleman, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Detroit Division, and Special Agent in Charge Mario Pinto of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Chicago Regional Office. Valentine ...

Warning: Thousands of Counterfeit M30 Pills Containing Carfentanil Seized in Western Washington

posted 09-24-2025
The Drug Enforcement Administration Seattle Field Division is warning the public after a seizure of counterfeit M30 pills containing carfentanil in Western Washington. On Tuesday, September 16th, 2025, after a months-long investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Federal Way Police and Centralia Police seized 50,208 pills from a defendant at a Centralia gas station. A K-9 alerted to narcotics and located the pills inside the vehicle. The driver, from Pacific, Washington, was arrested and and is facing federal charges. The drugs were tested in the field and sent to the DEA Western Laboratory in Pleasanton, ...

PA: Physician Sentenced to 14 Years for Illegal Distribution of Opioids and Health Care Fraud Conspiracies

posted 09-23-2025
A Pennsylvania doctor was sentenced today to 168 months in prison for orchestrating conspiracies to commit health care fraud, wire fraud, and unlawful distribution of controlled substances and money-laundering related offenses. He was also ordered to pay over $2 million in restitution and over $2 million in forfeiture. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Neil K. Anand, M.D., 48, of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, conspired to submit false and fraudulent claims to health plans provided by Medicare, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Independence Blue Cross (IBC), and Anthem, for “Goody Bags” of medically unnecessary prescription ...