Report urges stricter control of drug wholesalers

A statewide grand jury says many prescription drugs they sell are illegally obtained, mislabeled or adulterated.

Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 28, 2003

TALLAHASSEE -- Many of the prescription drugs distributed to Florida consumers by wholesalers -- some with criminal records -- are stolen, purchased off the black market or illegally imported and mislabeled, a statewide grand jury reported Thursday.

The 47-page interim report called for stricter licensing, more inspections and tighter oversight of wholesalers.

It also called for tougher penalties for violators -- including the death penalty if a consumer dies as a result of ingesting an adulterated drug.

"These people, through greed and malice, expose our most vulnerable citizens to death or grave injury every day," the report said.

The grand jury said it anticipates that indictments will be issued soon.

The panel also criticized Florida's Department of Health for what it said was lax enforcement of longstanding laws meant to protect residents from unscrupulous drug wholesalers.

The Legislature enacted a law in 1993 requiring drugs to carry "pedigree" documents showing all the hands they passed through on the way to the patient. The regulation to enforce the new law was written in 1996, but the investigative panel said it has never been enforced.

When the Health Department realized in the spring of 2001 that counterfeit drugs were being sold, it began trying to enforce the drug pedigree law, but backed off when the industry objected, the grand jury said. It said criminal background checks should be required for wholesalers.

The jury said it could not estimate how much of the prescription drug supply across Florida has been stolen, mishandled or fraudulently relabeled.

The situation is further aggravated by legal drugs that become tainted because of improper handling or storage, the report said.

It said that percentage is higher among more expensive injectable drugs used to treat cancer patients, AIDS patients or transplant patients.

Increasing amounts of antibiotics and cholesterol-reducing drugs are also being counterfeited, the report said.

It cited an instance where criminals realized a $28-million profit from a shipment of 11,000 boxes of counterfeit Epogen and Procrit, anemia drugs often given to cancer, AIDS and kidney failure patients.

Florida has just nine field inspectors to keep tabs on 422 wholesalers doing business in the state. There are another 977 wholesalers doing business outside of Florida that are licensed to ship prescription drugs into the state.

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