Cancel the cancellation: Internet pharmacy entrepreneur gets back his licence

An ousted pharmacist whose giant international pharmacy business got shut down by U.S. authorities over charges of smuggling, international money laundering and conspiracy has had his licence reinstated by a Manitoba judge. Court of Queen's Bench Justice Colleen Suche concluded in a Feb. 16 decision that the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba’s revocation of Kristjan Thorkelson’s pharmacist licence was “extreme penalty” that didn’t fit the circumstances. "The College was not able to point me to any decisions where conduct of a comparable nature, at least in terms of the degree of seriousness, resulted in a pharmacist losing their licence," Suche wrote in her decision, according to a CBC News report. "In fact, looking at the decisions from the College and elsewhere, conduct which arguably is as serious has resulted in nothing more than fines." Read: High-profile internet pharmacist fights to get revoked license back But in court documents filed in January 2020—shortly after Thorkelson mounted a legal challenge to the cancellation of his licence—the college said the regulator was fulfilling its mandate and insisted Thorkelson was no “gallant hero.” "Throughout his affidavit, Thorkelson appears to play the role of the gallant hero by telling us that the 'buck had to stop with me,'" the college wrote, according to an earlier CBC News story. "The reality is that Thorkelson is not a gallant hero. While it is true that at the end of the day, the buck had to stop with him, he did what he needed to do to protect himself and avoid a very lengthy prison term." The college cancelled Thorkelson's licence on Dec. 6., 2019, five years after he and several of his companies—including one called Canada Drugs, which at some point was the world’s largest international online pharmacy business—were charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with smuggling, international money laundering and conspiracy. The charges stemmed from an initial investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration into certain batches of the cancer drug Avastin, which a Canada Drug-owned U.K. company called River East bought from a company in Denmark, then resold for US$78 million to a clinic in the U.S. The clinic found that some of the Avastin had no active ingredient and told River East the drug "appeared suspect." River East had the drug shipped back to the company in Denmark, which informed the European regulator about the counterfeit drugs. Read: It was such an eventful week. I wonder what next week could possibly bring? Thorkelson "had no direct involvement in these events," Suche wrote in her decision. "They appear to have been relayed to him as they unfolded by the pharmaceutical manager of River East." The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in the U.K. and Health Canada both investigated and concluded that no action needed to be taken. A U.S. district court handed down a fine of $5 million to three of Thorkelson’s companies—CanadaDrugs.com, River East, and Rockley Ventures—and ordered restitution of $29 million to the U.S. Marshall's Service. As part of the judgement, the companies were shuttered and completed to surrender their domain names. Thorkelson avoided extradition to the U.S. by arranging a plea deal that saw him admitting to the charge of misprision—an archaic legal offence that exists today in fewer than five countries. Under misprision, an offender is aware of a felony but took steps to conceal it, including not telling legal authorities. Thorkelson was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay a fine of $250,000, restitution of $30,000 and other costs. Suche noted that the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba had asserted that Thorkelson was “motivated by profit at the expense of his ethical obligations. I see no basis to say this.” She added that "cancellation of a professional licence is an extreme penalty, ending an individual's career and livelihood. Accordingly, a licensing authority must take great care in coming to such a decision." Read: Pharmacists hit with $31K fine for almost $176,000 in illegal benefits and billing violations

Cancel the cancellation: Internet pharmacy entrepreneur gets back his licence

Register for free access or login.

Related Topics