|
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
|
||
| SEARCH | SUBSCRIBE | ||
Want to support Global Action on Aging? Click below: Thanks! |
 |
Chief exec `willing to go to prison'
Speaking from his Rx Depot storefront in Aventura, Carl
Moore, chief executive of the 85-store chain, said on Tuesday that he
would defy a demand from the Department of Justice to stop helping seniors
in the United States get drugs at discounted prices from Canada. ''They're trying to scare the living hell out of people,''
Moore said. ``We're going to the mat. That's what you have to do when you
want to stand up for social change. . . . We're going to fight forever for
the rights of citizens to access affordable medicines from Canada. ``. . . I'm willing to go to prison for what I do.'' The letter warned that if Moore did not sign an order to
cease and desist, the federal government would sue to try to stop his
business. ''There could be civil and criminal penalties,'' William
Hubbard, Food and Drug Administration deputy commissioner, told The Herald
by telephone. ``But I think in this case a lawsuit is the most likely
step.'' By his own account, Moore owns stores in 26 states, including
several in Florida that operate under the name Rx Depot or Rx of Canada. He had stores in Hialeah and Hollywood but closed them, he
said, because they weren't attracting customers. Moore's business, based in Tulsa, Okla., helps seniors fill
prescriptions using Canadian pharmacies through storefronts or over the
Internet. The FDA wrote to him in March, warning that he was illegally
assisting in the importation of drugs. Defiantly, Moore has since expanded his operation, according
to Hubbard. FDA investigators have ordered drugs through Moore's
facilities and found counterfeits, Hubbard said, particularly of the
antidepressant Serzone. ''It was a fake, a knockoff,'' Hubbard said. 'And they sent
too much. They were supposed to send a month's supply and instead sent two
months'. We have lots of examples of people not getting the right drug
[from Moore's stores].'' Hubbard said the FDA had focused on Moore because he's been
one of the pioneers in the business. Several state regulators had
similarly opened investigations of Moore's operations, Hubbard said. But Moore said the only complaints that he knew of against
him had come from FDA investigators. ''This a sting, no doubt about it,'' he said. ``There's not
one reported incident from a regular customer.'' He's fighting, he said, for people like his mother, 78, who
lives on $1,100 a month. Were she to purchase her medications here, it
would cost her $640, more than half her monthly income. Using a Canadian
pharmacy, she pays $227. Plus, Moore said, it's ''private interests'' -- namely the
major U.S. pharmaceutical firms -- that are goading the FDA into taking
action against him. The FDA's Hubbard denied that. ''This a real public threat,'' he said. ``I'm a career
federal employee, for 32 years. I couldn't care less about the
pharmaceutical companies. ''I've never worked for the drug industry,'' he added. ``We
have concrete evidence that these drugs are a real problem.'' Meanwhile, another major developer of Canadian storefronts,
Earle Turow, 72, of Delray Beach, has died, the Palm Beach Post reported
on Tuesday. He owned over 40 Discount Drugs of Canada franchises in
Florida and throughout the United States but was quoted less than two
weeks ago as saying he planned to sell the business. ''The business got bigger than I ever thought possible, and a
lot of the fun came out of it as we grew,'' Turow told The Palm Beach Post
on Aug. 25. He also told the paper that threats from state and federal
authorities had had nothing to do with his decision. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
