Minnedosa Internet druggist loses his pharmacy licence

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This article was published 24/02/2010 (5672 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BY JEN SKERRITT

WINNIPEG — One of Canada’s Internet pharmacy pioneers has lost his credentials to practise in Manitoba after a three-year probe into allegations he sold counterfeit prescription drugs to Americans.

Andrew Strempler, founder of the Minnedosa-based Mediplan Prescription Plus Pharmacy, agreed to strike his name from the provincial pharmacist registry at a discipline hearing last October. The outcome of the fall hearing has only recently been posted on their website.

Experts say it’s the most severe penalty that can be handed to a pharmacist, and prevents Strempler from renewing his licence to practise in Manitoba.

The fallout comes nearly four years after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration first warned consumers that drugs from Strempler’s Manitoba-based firm were unsafe. In August 2006, the FDA said preliminary lab tests of intercepted shipments found counterfeits of widely prescribed drugs such as Lipitor and Celebrex.

The body that regulates Manitoba pharmacists investigated the allegations and charged him with professional misconduct in early 2009. The Manitoba Pharmaceutical Association alleged Strempler dispensed drugs that were not approved by Health Canada out of a location in the Bahamas and sold them to Americans labelled as if they originated from Canada.

The body accused Strempler’s firm, also known as RxNorth, of selling prescription drugs that were close to, or past, their expiry date.

Strempler voluntarily withdrew his name from the provincial register and agreed to pay $7,500 to cover the cost of the investigation as part of a deal to stay the charges against him. Strempler could not be reached for comment, and his lawyer, Thomas Frohlinger, declined to speak about the matter.

“Mr. Strempler is no longer a pharmacist in the province of Manitoba,” Manitoba Pharmaceutical Association registrar Ron Guse said. “I think the truth of the matter is reflected in the charges.”

Strempler was among one of the country’s first Internet pharmacy entrepreneurs who capitalized on the cheap cross-border sale of drugs at age 25, when he sold Nicorette gum on eBay.

The idea prompted Strempler, his wife Catherine, and pharmacy pals Mark and Chantelle Rzepka to start Mediplan in 2001 — a business once estimated to be worth $1 billion.

Strempler bought out his partners in 2005, and eventually sold the business in late 2006 after the FDA warnings surfaced.

At the time, Strempler publicly denied any wrongdoing and said the allegations were “completely false.”

David Marr, lawyer for the Manitoba Pharmaceutical Association, said Strempler was not present at the 2009 discipline hearings, but contested the charges through his lawyer.

Guse called the lengthy investigation a “phenomenal” challenge for Manitoba regulators, since the evidence had to be collected with the co-operation of officials in the Bahamas. He said the pharmaceutical association hardly has the resources to deal with the matter and that the regulatory body has a limited capacity to police businesses who sell drugs outside Manitoba.

Those concerns prompted the association to post a disclaimer on the websites of the remaining Internet pharmacies operating in Manitoba last year.

The Manitoba Pharmaceutical Association now advises consumers of their limited ability to “investigate and prosecute” complaints against online pharmacies who sell products internationally.

“We need help,” Guse said. “We barely had the resources to pursue this matter.”

It’s unclear whether Strempler could face future criminal charges, since police in multiple jurisdictions are still investigating.

RCMP Sgt. Line Karpish said Canadian officials are working with other law enforcement agencies and continue to investigate.

“The investigation is not closed,” Karpish said. “It’s still ongoing.”

» Winnipeg Free Press