Masters Pharmaceutical Inc. will pay a $500,000 fine in a settlement with the Drug Enforcement Administration, which accused it of selling drugs to illegal Internet pharmacies.
The generic drug distributor, which did not admit to wrongdoing and cooperated with the investigation, will pay $350,000 by May 15; $100,000 in 2010; and $50,000 in 2011, according to a news release from Gregory Lockhart, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio.
The DEA claimed that Masters sold more than 4 million dosages of hydrocodone, phentermine and alprazolam to the Internet pharmacies between 2005 and 2008 and didn’t report the sales to the agency.
“By failing to report the suspicious orders for controlled substances that it received from rogue Internet pharmacies, Masters Pharmaceuticals contributed substantially to the explosive growth of prescription drug abuse in this country,” said Robert Corso, special agent in charge, Detroit Field Division of the DEA, in the release.
Masters, in a separate memorandum of agreement, said it had taken good-faith actions to detect and prevent diversions of controlled drugs.
Forest Park-based Masters was one of the finalists in the Business Courier’s “Fast 55” fastest-growing companies in 2008. The company had 2008 revenues of $100 million, up 18 percent over three years.
No comments:
Post a Comment