A man from Bihar, India, was arrested in Houston, Texas, on allegations of selling and shipping counterfeit cancer drugs worth tens of thousands of dollars to individuals in the United States. Sanjay Kumar, 43, was indicted by a federal grand jury and subsequently arrested while in the U.S. to negotiate further deals to expand his illegal business of distributing fake oncology pharmaceuticals in the country.
Kumar and his accomplices stand accused of orchestrating the sale and shipment of counterfeit versions of Keytruda and other oncology medications to unsuspecting individuals in the U.S. Keytruda, a cancer immunotherapy drug approved for various indications in the U.S., including lung cancer, head and neck cancer, gastric cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, and melanoma, is exclusively manufactured and distributed by Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC in the country.
The U.S. Justice Department revealed that Kumar faces charges of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit drugs and multiple counts of trafficking in counterfeit drugs. If found guilty, he could potentially face up to 20 years in prison for each count. The case highlights the serious consequences of engaging in the illicit trade of counterfeit pharmaceuticals, particularly those intended for critical medical treatments like cancer therapy.
