Drug distributor owners convicted in fake meds case

The owners of pharmaceutical distributor Safe Chain Solutions have been found guilty of distributing black market HIV drugs and could face lengthy prison sentences.

Brothers Charles (44) and Patrick Boyd (47) were convicted by a jury in a Florida federal court of conspiracy to introduce adulterated and misbranded drugs to defraud, conspiracy to traffic in medical products with false documentation, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

The lawsuit dates back several years and alleged that Safe Chain Solutions and a string of other suppliers, distributors, and pharmacies operated an HIV drug counterfeiting ring. The defendants were accused of selling bottles of Gilead Sciences medicines – including Biktarvy and Descovy – that were in fact filled with different, potentially dangerous drugs.

The fakes were distributed around the US and were accompanied by fake pedigrees – the records that purport to show the chain of all sales or transfers of a drug – according to court documents.

The Boyds' partner, Adam Brosius – who was a part-owner of Safe Chain Solutions and also owner of another business called Worldwide Pharma Sales – pleaded guilty to his part in the operation earlier this year and is scheduled to be sentenced later this week.

Other conspirators in the network – suspected of selling $90m of fake HIV medication to pharmacies nationwide – have previously been given prison sentences of up to 15 years.

According to Brosius’ plea deal, he and his co-conspirators unlawfully distributed $60m in diverted HIV drugs between around September 2020 and July 2021. According to the Department of Justice, one patient taking one of the illicit medicines passed out and remained unconscious for 24 hours after taking an antipsychotic drug rather than his prescribed HIV medication.

Safe Chain Solutions – which is still operational – was taken to task by the FDA in 2023 in a warning letter that said it did not have systems in place that would allow it to comply with the verification requirements of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), including the identification of ‘suspect product’.

The regulator said it had also violated the DSCSA by conducting transactions with trading partners that were not authorised. A follow-up letter sent to the company in March this year said it had addressed the violations in the 2023 warning letter, but added that "future FDA inspections and regulatory activities will further assess the adequacy and sustainability of these corrections."

Last year, the company also reached a settlement with Gilead in a civil lawsuit that lasted for more than two years two years of civil litigation. Under the terms, the Boyds agreed to relinquish $2.7m in frozen assets and were barred from participating in any future commerce involving Gilead products.

They have a sentencing hearing scheduled for January 20, 2026.