Council committed to protecting public

THE BAHAMAS Phar­macy Council's chairman last night told Tribune Business that the case which saw a Ba­hamas pharmacist paid $4,000 a month for the use of his company's name and licence to export illegal prescription drugs into the US is "unlikely to occur" under current laws. Barbara Henderson, re­sponding to this newspaper's report yesterday, said the Pharmacy Act 2009 was de­veloped "in part as a response to this case" and she added that the Council was seeking to fur­ther strengthen laws on the import/export of pharmaceu­tical products in the Bahamas.

Tribune Business revealed how Canadian Andrew Strempler's guilty plea to US federal charges disclosed that the Freeport-based Personal Touch Pharmacy was used for an 18-month scheme to ship prescription drugs into the US that were not approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).

That made their export from the Bahamas illegal, and Strempler is now facing a potential five-year prison sen­tence, forfeiting $300,000 and a further fine and restitution. Pointing out that the case occurred before the Bahamas Pharmacy Council was estab­lished, Ms Henderson said: "The Pharmacy Act 2009, and the provisions contained therein, were written in part as a response to this case.

"This council has since put in place regulations, inspec­tions and mandatory educa­tion for pharmacists. "Under the current laws, the circumstances of this case would have been unlikely to occur. The Council is current­ly looking to further strengthen the laws, particularly in the area of import and export of pharmaceuticals. The council would prefer not to respond to any of the specifics of the Strempler case, as it was still before the Bahamian courts, Ms Hen­derson added: "Be assured that it [the Council] takes se­riously its duty to govern and regulate the standard of prac­tice for professionals involved in the practice of pharmacy, and our goal is to guarantee the highest levels of pharma­ceutical care to all residents of the Bahamas.

"The Council encourages all pharmacists, health care professionals and the gen­eral public to become famil­iar with, and adhere to, the guidelines that have been set for the practice of pharmacy. Deliberate or negligent fail­ure to comply with these laws could result in prosecution."

Documents filed as an 'agreed statement of fact' be­tween the US federal authori­ties and Strempler did not identify the Bahamas-based pharmacist who allowed his business to be used. A Dwight McCoy was named as having managed Personal Touch Pharmacy, but it is not clear if this is the same person, as he was de­scribed as running the busi­ness for RxNorth, Strempler's company. There is no sugges­tion of wrongdoing on Mr Mc­Coy's part.

The documents agreed be­tween Strempler and the US said: "From in or around Jan­uary 2005, to on or about June 9, 2006, Strempler and others utilised a facility in Freeport, in the Bahamas, to dispense prescription drugs purchased from RxNorth. "Personal Touch Pharmacy was the trade name used by a pharmacist who was licensed by the Grand Bahama Port Authority to operate a phar­macy in the Bahamas, and to import and export prescrip­tion drugs.

"Strempler paid $4,000 a month for the use of the Per­sonal Touch name and the pharmacist's license to ship medicine into the Bahamas, and then ship the medicine back out. Strempler hired a manager and staff for the Per­sonal Touch facility." The agreed statement said documents obtained from Personal Touch's manager showed prescription drugs were obtained from nations such as Australia and Turkey, which were not approved by the FDA.

"Prescription drugs from foreign countries were shipped to the facility in the Bahamas according to de­tailed 'Procedures for Orders Shipped to the Bahamas'," the US court document said. "Foreign suppliers were instructed to not refer to RxNorth or Mediplan on the shipping invoice, and specified that drugs must be shipped to the Bahamas.so that there were no stopovers in Canada or the US.

"Workers at Personal Touch were instructed not to use arriving inventory to fulfill prescriptions until Strempler reviewed and approved the labels and packaging on drugs that Personal Touch received from the foreign suppliers."

Staff at the Bahamian pharmacy filled orders using a computer system linked to RxNorth in Canada. Orders were shipped in bulk from the Bahamas to drop shippers in the UK and Netherlands An­tilles, who delivered the or­ders to individual customers. The scheme, though, came to an end when the US au­thorities seized two shipments from Personal Touch at Mi­ami International Airport on June 6-7, 2006. Collectively, the two shipments were worth $158,000.