Owners of a wholesale drug distributor were recently indicted in the Southern District of Florida for alleged engagement in a scheme involving counterfeit HIV drugs. Adam Brosius, Patrick Boyd, and Charles Boyd – owners of Safe Chain Solutions, LLC, a wholesale distributor that purported to sell legitimate prescription drugs (including HIV drugs) to pharmacies throughout the United States – are accused of purchasing large quantities of diverted medications on an inexpensive basis from unreputable suppliers. Often, the suppliers allegedly obtained the drugs by paying cash to patients in an illegal “buyback” scheme.
Upon obtaining the diverted medications, Safe Chain allegedly resold the medications to pharmacies throughout the United States without the required paperwork to document the origin of the medications. Instead, the aforementioned defendants and “others” falsified paperwork to make it look as though the medications were purchased legitimately, according to prosecutors. In some instances, Safe Chain allegedly knowingly purchased and redistributed pill bottles that were labeled to be a specific HIV medication but were a different drug entirely.
Brosius and the Boyds were charged with conspiracy to introduce into interstate commerce adulterated and misbranded drugs and to defraud the United States; introducing into interstate commerce misbranded drugs; conspiracy to traffic in medical products with false documentation; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; and wire fraud. The Boyds were owners of Safe Chain while Brosius was part owner of Safe Chain and owner of Worldwide Pharma Sales Group, Inc., which helped Safe Chain locate suppliers of HIV drugs and pharmacy customers who needed to purchase HIV drugs.
According to the government, Safe Chain purchased more than $90 million in discounted and diverted prescription drugs – primarily HIV medications – from five “black market” suppliers through the above-referenced illegal “buyback” schemes. After purchasing HIV medication from the black-market suppliers, the defendants would turn around and sell the diverted drugs to pharmacies throughout the country, who would then dispense the diverted HIV medications to unsuspecting patients. The government alleged that in certain instances, patients received bottles labeled as their prescription medication, but the bottles contained a different drug entirely. Anecdotally, there was one patient that passed out and remained unconscious for 24 hours after taking an anti-psychotic drug thinking it was his prescribed HIV medication.
Other Legal Troubles for Safe Chain
This indictment follows lawsuits filed by Gilead Sciences and Johnson & Johnson, where the companies alleged that Safe Chain distributed counterfeit and misbranded bottles of their drugs. Earlier this year, the Boyds and Safe Chain reached a settlement with Gilead that prohibited the company from selling any Gilead products in the United States and required it to relinquish rights to more than $2.7 million in frozen assets.
Also, in 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a warning letter to Safe Chain, noting a lack of “adequate verification systems” and concern over mislabeled Gilead products that were purchased from “unauthorized trading partners.”