Online pharmacist gets four years in fake drug case

A US court has sentenced a pioneering Internet pharmacist to four years in prison for links to the sale of fake drugs.

Andrew Strempler - who was the owner of a company called Mediplan Health Consulting - set up his online pharmacy RxNorth.com to sell drugs sourced from Canada and the UK in the US, using the price difference between the markets to turn a profit.

However, some of the drugs came from further afield. In 2006 US regulators found up to 90 per cent were fake.

Increased scrutiny led to Strempler leaving Canada and having his pharmacist license revoked. After being arrested in Panama he was deported to Canada, but never reached the country. The deportation flight had a layover in Miami where he was arrested on charges relating to the distribution of illegal medicines in the US supply chain.

Strempler pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud in October and was sentenced to up to four years in jail this week. US prosecutors were pushing for a sentence of up to 20 years in jail.

The sentencing is a high point in a long-running federal investigation in to Canadian pharmacies linked to the introduction of counterfeit, diverted and unapproved medicines into the US.

In a statement, the Department of Justice said Strempler was also ordered to pay a forfeiture of $300,000 and a fine of $25,000, while a restitution hearing has been scheduled for February 26.

"Internet websites that illegally sell potentially substandard, counterfeit or otherwise unsafe pharmaceuticals, pose a real threat to consumers," commented DoJ principal deputy assistant attorney general Stuart Delery. 

"The sentence handed down today serves as an effective deterrent to those who would peddle counterfeit pharmaceuticals - particularly those drugs trafficked over the Internet."