Owners of the Cambridge-based pharmaceutical distributor Safe Chain Solutions were convicted in a Florida federal court on Oct. 29 for distributing counterfeit and black-market HIV drugs.
A jury found brothers Charles and Patrick Boyd guilty on seven of eight counts, including conspiracy to introduce adulterated and misbranded drugs to defraud the United States, conspiracy to traffic in medical products with false documentation, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
They were found not guilty on one count of wire fraud. The jury took two days to reach a verdict.
The weeks-long trial was held in Fort Lauderdale. Safe Chain has sales offices in Miami, according to its website.
According to court records from when they were indicted last year, the Boyds and partner Adam Brosius sent more than $90 million in payments to HIV drug suppliers for adulterated, misbranded and diverted prescription drug through interstate wire transmissions. The transmissions were said to have occurred in 2020 and 2021.
This April, Brosius 鈥 also owner of Worldwide Pharma Sales, which he operated from his Florida home 鈥 pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. In the plea agreement, Brosius admitted to carrying out a scheme to 鈥渄efraud pharmacy customers, their patients and health care benefit programs鈥 by distributing HIV drugs often purchased from black-market suppliers.
The three actors purchased drugs at 鈥渟teeply discounted prices, which they were aware was far below the pricing available for such drugs had they been acquired through legitimate and regulated channels of distribution,鈥 according to the plea agreement.
The Boyds and Brosius were aware that transaction reports detailing the drugs鈥 path through the supply chain 鈥渃ontained falsified information,鈥 Brosius鈥 plea deal states.
In one instance, the plea deal states that a customer emailed the three men indicating that a bottle purchased from Safe Chain 鈥渃ontained an anti-psychotic drug instead of the HIV drug listed on the bottle鈥檚 label.鈥
Brosius鈥 plea deal implicated him and the Boyds for paying black-market suppliers $60 million from roughly September 2020 to July 2021.
In last year鈥檚 indictment, Charles Boyd was said to have sent text messages on Aug. 14, 2020, to Patrick Boyd stating: 鈥淧atient opened a bottle and it was different medication,鈥 and later, 鈥淚t was replaced with bipolar med.鈥
Bruce Zimet, a Fort Lauderdale-based attorney representing Charles Boyd, declined to comment when reached by phone Wednesday. Patrick Boyd鈥檚 attorney, William Barzee, did not respond to a request for comment on the verdict.
The Cambridge company has come under scrutiny from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in recent years. In June 2023, the FDA issued a warning letter regarding Safe Chain鈥檚 violations of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act following a month-long inspection in 2022.
The letter said the company did not have adequate verification systems that 鈥渕ay have resulted in suspect product entering the supply chain.鈥 It also confirmed that Safe Chain purchased products from other drug wholesalers that were not authorized, failed to maintain records of suspect product investigations and failed to respond to notifications of illegitimate products.
This March, the FDA issued a letter to Safe Chain鈥檚 chief operating officer and compliance manager indicating the company appeared to have 鈥渁ddressed the violations鈥 listed in the June 2023 letter.
鈥淭his letter does not relieve you or your firm from the responsibility of taking all necessary steps to assure sustained compliance with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and its implementing regulations or with other relevant legal authority,鈥 the from the FDA read.
Safe Chain Solutions, which is located on Chesapeake Drive in Cambridge, did not respond to requests for comment.
In February 2024, Safe Chain reached a settlement with Gilead Sciences Inc., a bbiopharmaceutical company that develops and markets a variety of medications, after over two years of civil litigation.
Gilead鈥檚 complaint alleged Safe Chain鈥檚 involvement in the distribution of authentic-looking bottles of two of Gilead鈥檚 HIV medications, Biktarvy and Descovy, to pharmacies across the country.
In the months after Gilead鈥檚 federal complaint, the Boyds denied allegations that they participated in counterfeiting HIV drugs. And while they settled with Gilead in February 2024, an attorney for Safe Chain maintained that Gilead鈥檚 accusations were 鈥渇alse and defamatory.鈥
The Boyds have a sentencing hearing scheduled for Jan. 20. Brosius鈥 sentencing is set for Nov. 7.
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