Law Officers Arrest 11 for Importing and Distributing Misbranded and Unapproved Drugs
Federal and local law enforcement agencies arrested seven U.S. and Canadian citizens for importing and distributing allegedly misbranded and unapproved drugs, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia on Aug. 7. A judge issued arrest warrants for three others, and another person facing charges is already in a Canadian prison. According to the attorney’s office, the 11 residents of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida and Canada were associated with Gallant Pharma, a drug company based in Crystal City, Va.
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Talib Khan of Montreal and Syed Huda of Virginia were the principals of Gallant Pharma, which around August 2009 began illegally importing prescription drugs, including intravenous chemotherapy drugs and injectable cosmetics, the attorney’s office said. Gallant Pharma said it was a Canadian company and told is customers it sold drugs from Canada. But the drugs were sourced from elsewhere, including India, Switzerland, and Turkey. They were also allegedly not in compliance with Food and Drug Administration manufacturing and packaging requirements, and in some cases weren’t FDA-approved. Large shipments of drugs were broken into many small packages and the contents were mislabeled. They were then delivered to a medical practice in McLean, Va. to avoid CBP scrutiny, and stored at an office in Springfield, Va.
According to the attorney’s office, Gallant Pharma wasn’t licensed to distribute prescription drugs in the U.S. Nonetheless, the Gallant Pharma sales representatives across the U.S. sold drugs to doctors, hospitals, and medical practices across the U.S., generating more than $8.6 million in revenue since August 2009.