Man charged with importing, selling millions of dollars' worth of illegal cancer pharmaceuticals

Wednesday, May 30, 2012 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: cancer drugs, importing, crimes

(NaturalNews) Despite the cumbersome medication approval process of the Food and Drug Adminstration's (FDA) bloated, controlling bureaucracy, a number of good, proven drugs and treatments remain "legal" elsewhere in the world, but not in the United States. We are told that's because not all medication "out there" is good for you, but the truth is, no medicine is "good enough" unless it is permitted to pass through the gatekeepers at the FDA.

If it doesn't, Big Pharma's henchmen at the FDA get angry and send the gatekeepers after you.

No one knows that better than Paul Bottomley of Belgrade, who angered the beast for selling millions of dollars worth of unapproved oncology medications in the U.S. that were imported from several countries.

Millions importing 'non-approved' drugs

A recent report in the Bozeman (Montana) Daily Chronicle said federal authorities seized about $1.1 million in cash and a pair of vehicles worth $197,000 from Bottomley when they busted him for selling the illegal medications.

In a complaint filed in federal court in Butte, U.S. Assistant Attorney Victoria Francis alleges that Bottomley illegally imported the medications then sold them in the U.S.

Bottomley, a citizen of the United Kingdom who lives in Belgrade, bought land in Montana with some of his earnings. The government has seized that as well and will hold it until it's determined whether or not civil forfeiture is appropriate.

According to an April complaint, Bottomley was president of a company called Montana Healthcare Solutions, "a pharmaceutical distribution business started in 2007 that he later renamed to Peak Pharmaceutical Solutions and claimed had closed in 2010," the paper said.

Here's how it all went down. According to the court filing, Bottomley's companies were set up to illegally import the drugs, sell them to U.S. physicians, and divert earnings from at least two company corporate accounts to at least five of Bottomley's personal accounts, which he then used to buy property. The drugs, according to the government, were imported from Turkey, the European Union, India, Germany, New Zealand and the Netherlands.

More than $10.25 million was wired from an account belonging to Montana Healthcare Solutions from 2007 through November 2011 to foreign wholesale drug companies. In turn, more than $18.7 million in credit card deposits were made to that account.

A second Montana Health Solutions account, meanwhile, took in more than $7.4 million in credit card deposits, with another $6.9 million in deposits made after the company was allegedly sold in 2010.

No charges - yet

What tipped investigators off was that Bottomley's Montana Healthcare Solutions was selling a version of an oncology drug at far below normal prices. That led the drugmaker to look into the sales a little closer; when officials did, they discovered the drug was a version not approved for sale in the U.S.

Court papers also said Bottomley was involved with a California firm known as Medication Brokers, which listed him as its executive vice president. He claims he was only a contractor, though, but his involvement with a medication broker makes you wonder how many other drugs - legal and otherwise - get into the country this way.

According to a Medication Brokers employee, Bottomley began buying the oncology drugs from a United Kingdom-based firm, Richard's Pharma. "Between October 2008 and November 2010, Bottomley made wire transfers of more than $4.1 million from his accounts to Richard's Pharma," the paper reported, quoting court documents.

No charges have been filed against Bottomley as of yet, but if history is any guide, that formality is likely coming. What is certain already is that this conduit for cheap oncology medications is closed.

One of the reasons why healthcare costs are rising rapidly in the U.S. is because of the cost of medications for life-altering procedures - like cancer treatment - have skyrocketed.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com

http://www.cancer.org

http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/default.htm