A federal grand jury in Houston, Texas has indicted a 43-year-old Indian national from Bihar for selling and shipping thousands of dollars worth of counterfeit oncology drugs to the US. The man from Bihar has been charged with five counts and could face up to 100 years in prison.
According to court documents, Sanjay Kumar, a resident of Bihar, and other co-conspirators allegedly arranged the shipment and sale of counterfeit oncology drugs, including Keytruda for cancer immunotherapy, to people in the United States.
Sanjay Kumar has been charged with one count of conspiracy to traffic counterfeit drugs and four counts of trafficking counterfeit drugs. According to the US Justice Department, if convicted, the man from Bihar could face a maximum jail term of 20 years on each count.
According to a US attorney, Kumar was arrested in Houston on June 26 when he arrived in the US with the intention of negotiating and furthering his business of selling counterfeit Keytruda in the American market.
“Keytruda is a cancer immunotherapy approved in the United States for 19 different indications, including the treatment of certain types of melanoma, lung cancer, head and neck cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, gastric cancer, cervical cancer, and breast cancer,” officials said.
In the US, a firm called Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC has the sole authority to authorise the manufacturing of Keytruda for entry into interstate commerce, the US Attorney said.