Effective Aug. 15, the Food and Drug Administration has issued an order debarring an individual from importing or offering for import any drug into the U.S. for 15 years. This order is based on the man’s conviction on three felony counts related to imports of drugs or controlled substances, including one count of conspiracy and two counts of introduction of misbranded drugs with intent to defraud/mislead.
According to the FDA, the man owned two companies that sold nootropics, a class of drugs and supplements claiming to enhance mood and cognitive functioning. One of these is considered a prescription drug but the man sold it online through one of the companies without requiring a prescription and without labeling it with adequate directions for use, both of which resulted in the FDA considering the drug to be misbranded.
In addition, the drug was smuggled into the U.S. from a supplier in China, which the man and his co-conspirators gave instructions on how to mislabel the packages to evade detection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. When CBP seized some of the packages the man filed a petition for release that falsely represented that the drug was for research and development only.
This article was originally published in the Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg Trade Report.