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20 FDA Veterinarian 1 (2005)

handle is hein.animal/fdavt0020 and id is 1 raw text is: January/February 2005 Vol. XX, No. I Company, Owner Fined, Placed on Probation for Selling Misbranded Animal Drugs A Federal court in Iowa in December 2004 fined Livestock Concepts, Inc., and its owner, Becky Rus, and placed the company and the owner on probation for selling prescription animal drugs without a veterinarian's oversight, and in some cases with false or forged documents. The company was caught because cattle treated with drugs the company sold tested positive for illegal drug resi- dues. The positive findings triggered an investigation. Rus was given a year's probation and fined $25,000, ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Office of Crimi- nal Investigation, and as part of a plea agreement required to forfeit $225,000 to the U.S. government. Her company was also sentenced to a year's probation and ordered not to sell prescription drugs during that time. In addition, the company was fined $25,000 and ordered to pay $400 in special assessments. The investigation was carried out by FDA's Kansas City District Office, Office of Criminal Investigations, and Center for Veterinary Medicine. The investigation was started after the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service detected illegal levels of drug residues in slaughtered cattle. Whenever USDA discovers illegal residues, it contacts FDA to conduct an investigation into the reasons for the residues. In this case, the investigator re- viewed the records of the livestock pro- ducer whose animals were found with illegal residues. During this review, the investigator also checked with the veterinarian used by the producer and found that the veterinarian-client-pa- tient relationship was not correctly in place. This investigation, which took place in 2002, found that Rus on behalf of Livestock Concepts continued to pur- chase and dispense prescription drugs without a veterinarian's prescription. The investigation found that from March 1999 to April 2000 the com- pany did not employ any veterinar- ian, but continue to buy and dispense prescription drugs. As a result, Rus was in violation of Federal law by selling misbranded drugs. Livestock Concepts provided false and forged documents to drug suppli- ers in order to continue to buy pre- scription drugs. The documents said a veterinarian was working for Livestock Concepts, even though the company was not employing one. The forged documents allowed the company to continue to buy prescription drugs that it dispensed. The company used another vet- erinarian who sold drugs through the company even though he never examined the animals IN THI to be treated, which under Secon, Federal law is considered sell- Fran ing misbranded drugs. VICH Investigators also found in that Livestock Concepts CVM shipped veterinary drugs to for a customer in Virginia based on a prescription form prepared and signed by a registered pharmacist, not a veterinarian. In addition, the company shipped animal drugs to a customer based on a prescription from a doctor of osteopathy. In another case, a vet- erinarian signed a prescription a month after the drugs were shipped. Not unique case This case is not unique, according to Kansas City District Office investiga- tors. Each time a case of illegal drug sales is uncovered, FDA takes action. Often that action is an injunction and seizure of the product. But, when evi- dence is strong, local investigators can refer the case to FDA's Office of Crimi- nal Investigations. The U.S. Attorney then can decide if the case should be brought to court. FDA is not likely to take action against the veterinarians, doctors, or pharmacists who aided Livestock Con- cepts in illegal drug sales, but FDA will notify States of any suspected illegal ac- tivities. States often take action against individuals. Livestock producers who knowingly buy and use veterinary drugs illegally (Continued, next page) S ISSUE d Feed Safety System Meeting Foc uses on vework, Risk Ranking Model .................. 2 Meeting Scheduled tor May 25-27 i shington, D C .......................................... 3 Uses Latest Science to Develop Methods Detecting Animal Drug Residues ............. 6

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