Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Miami Herald - Thursday, January 16, 2003
Lesley Clark, lclark@herald.com
The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday gave the grand jury the go-ahead, granting a request from Gov. Jeb Bush.
The criminals -- pharmaceutical wholesalers -- target high-end prescription drugs, such as costly medications used by people battling cancer, leukemia and HIV. According to investigators, the scam includes repackaging medication so it appears to be a higher strength and thus commands a higher price. Investigators fear patients could end up receiving a weaker dose than prescribed.
"It is a very dangerous thing to have a system where fraud can be committed by not providing the proper medication for people who truly need it," Bush said.
The grand jury will focus on crime in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, although it's not restricted to those areas.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement hopes the investigation will lead to arrests for a case on which it has been working for nearly a year, said Michael Mann, an FDLE special-agent supervisor based in Miami.
"This isn't counterfeiting one box, it's hundreds at a time," Mann said. "There's a lot of money involved."
For example, he said, a box of 10 vials of a drug that raises a patient's red-blood-cell count sells for about $250.
But a wholesaler who repackages the medication could sell it for as much as $4,700 by mislabeling the dosage, Mann said.
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