US orders Puerto Rico drug distribution firm to pay $12 million in opioid case

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — One among Puerto Rico’s greatest distributors of pharmaceutical medicine was ordered to pay $12 million after being accused of not reporting lots of of suspicious orders for managed substances, the U.S. Justice Division stated Monday.

Drogueria Betances, LLC is accused of not reporting no less than 655 orders for fentanyl and no less than 113 orders for oxycodone from 2016 by way of June 2019. The orders have been thought of suspicious given partially their frequency and measurement, the division stated.

The corporate is also accused of lots of of record-keeping violations and of not submitting experiences of its distribution transactions to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, together with these involving opioids, from Could 2017 to July 2018, officers stated.

As well as, the corporate was ordered to enhance its compliance program and report suspicious orders to the DEA, amongst different issues.

Drogueria Betances stated in a press release that whereas it agreed to pay the high quality and strengthen its system to report the distribution of managed substances, it rejected allegations that it had an inefficient system to observe suspect orders.

“Over the previous years, we have now made million-dollar investments in expertise and exterior recommendation to make sure strict compliance with the legal guidelines and laws that apply to managed medicines,” Juan Carlos Hernández, the corporate’s president, stated in a press release.

He added that Drogueria Betances by no means was accused of diverting managed merchandise to unauthorized individuals or entities.

The grievance filed by the U.S. authorities comes after the U.S. territory of three.2 million individuals reported a surge in lethal overdoses associated to opioids, from 19 deaths in 2017 to 521 in 2021, in accordance with the most recent obtainable figures.