Wholesale pharmacy has license suspended

Monday, June 14, 2004 | 9:15 a.m.

Pharmaceutical wholesaler FMC Distributors Inc., which does business in Nevada but is based in Puerto Rico, was fined $20,000 and had its wholesale license suspended by the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy.

The board on June 2 found FMC guilty of failure to provide a true copy of its records to pharmacy board staff and employing workers who redacted or modified records. The wholesaler was also found guilty of failing to provide copies of all of the records requested by board staff.

Board of Pharmacy Executive Secretary Keith Mcdonald requested FMC's records Jan. 5 for use in an investigation of another pharmaceutical wholesaler, the complaint Mcdonald signed March 15 said.

The complaint said the investigation of an undisclosed wholesaler would be halted if FMC doesn't provide its records, which may include purchase orders, invoices, shipping records and wire transfers.

The wholesaler redacted pricing information from the records it provided to Mcdonald's office because the information was proprietary and Nevada law doesn't require them to provide it, said Steven Gibson, one of FMC's attorneys with Santoro, Driggs, Walch, Kearney, Johnson & Thompson.

"We have serious concerns about the application of due process to these proceedings," Gibson said.