The owner of a pharmaceutical wholesaler has been indicted for his alleged role in distributing misbranded HIV pills, a sign that U.S. authorities are now targeting an extensive scheme that pumped the medicines into the pharmaceutical supply chain.
Steven Diamantstein, who runs Scripts Wholesale in Brooklyn, N.Y., was indicted for participating in a conspiracy in which at least $150 million worth of HIV medicines were purchased at “steeply discounted” prices from patients and then repackaged and relabeled for distribution at much higher prices, according to an indictment filed in a federal court in Newark, New Jersey. He allegedly worked with several other individuals and pharmacies between 2017 and 2021 as part of the scheme.
Reconfiguring bottles and labels for distributing medicines is known as misbranding or diverting legitimate prescription drugs. However, the indictment alleged Diamantstein also failed to provide the proper paperwork — known in industry parlance as a pedigree, or transaction history — as the medicines were distributed. This made it difficult to know whether a medicine was altered, if it was stored in improper conditions, or whether its potency was affected.