Settlement reflects vulnerability of Personal Importation safety critics as example of 'people who live in glass houses'

Publisher's Note:  The beneficial contribution of personal importation of safe, authentic brand-name medicines from Tier One Pharmacies has long been a target of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) on the grounds that there was no efficient oversight provided that could 'guarantee' the safety of the medicines nor the operations of the dispensing pharmacies although the medicines would be dispensed from licensed, registered pharmacies in Tier One Countries whose standards of safety and efficacy meet or exceed those of the U.S. 

Settlements such as this one as part of an earlier $1.6 billion settlement that Abbott Laboratories for making false claims about its anti-epileptic drug Depakote indicates that the criticisms of the NABP are those of people living in glass houses, and that their industry and that of Pharma are often, in and of themselves, in violation of U.S. law, leading to questions of the efficacy of NABP , as well as the oversight it offers on the ethics of Pharma and too many pharmacies.

This, in turn, demands additional oversight into the potential for negative impact upon the health and well-being of untold numbers of Americans, especially those among the most vulnerable as America's Aging population.

The news release below, illustrates this potential for abuse by Pharma and in this instance, PharMerica Corp.  Add to this the failed oversight provided by a state's Board of Pharmacy in allowing the continued manufacture of unsafe compounded medicines, and we believe the vulnerability of the NABP opposition to personal importation of brand-name prescription medicines from registered pharmacies in Tier One Countries is self-apprent:

WASHINGTON, October 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Long Term Care Pharmacy – PharMerica Corp.- has agreed to pay$9.25 million to settle allegations that it violated the federal false claims act and similar state false claims acts by receiving kickbacks from Abbott Laboratories to promote the anti-epileptic drug, Depakote.

The settlement resolves claims that were part of a 2007 lawsuit filed by false claims act whistleblower, Meredith McCoyd. Claims made initially by McCoyd against Abbott were resolved as part of a $1.6 billion settlement in 2012.

The case is entitled, U.S. ex rel. McCoyd v. Abbott Labs. et al., No. 1:07-cv-00081 (W.D. Va.). 

Reuben Guttman and Traci Buschner of Guttman, Buschner & Brooks PLLC (GBB) in Washington, D.C. have been lead counsel for Ms. McCoyd throughout the litigation, including the initial $1.6 billion settlement.  Firm senior counsel and medical director, Caroline Poplin, M.D., was also part of the GBB team representing McCoyd.

"This case highlights mismanagement of medical care for the nation's elderly," said Reuben Guttman. "It is really a case about paying to put drugs in the bodies of patients who were without the ability to engage in informed consent."

"Congressional oversight of the nursing home industry is in order," said Traci Buschner.

Guttman, Buschner & Brooks PLLC is a leading firm representing whistleblowers. http://gbblegal.com/

Attorneys from the firm have represented whistleblowers in the following cases:  U.S. ex rel. Doghramji et al. v. Community Health Services, Inc. et al. (M.D. Tenn.)($97 million government recovery in 2014); U.S. ex rel. Sandler and Paris v. Wyeth Pharmaceuticals et al (W.D. Okla.)($257 million civil government recovery in 2013); U.S. ex rel. Graydon v. GlaxoSmithKline (D. Mass)($1.04 billion dollar government recovery in 2012); U.S. ex rel. Demott v. Pfizer (D. Mass)($2.3 billion government recovery in 2009); U.S. ex rel. Szymoniak v. Bank of America et al, (D.S.C./W.D.N.C.) ($95 million government recovery in 2012); U.S. ex rel. Kurnik v. Amgen et al., (D.S.C.)($24.9 million government recovery in 2013.)