- Armando Herrera of Miami pleaded guilty to selling adulterated HIV drugs under a counterfeit brand.
- HIV drugs, including Truvada and Biktarvy, were diverted from legal channels, misbranded and sold at deep discounts to two unnamed wholesalers.
- The counterfeit branded drugs were then distributed to pharmacies across the United States and dispensed to unsuspecting patients.
A Miami man has pleaded guilty in federal court to distributing adulterated HIV drugs that were dispensed to patients in the United States.
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A Miami man has pleaded guilty to distributing $25 million worth of counterfeit and adulterated HIV drugs dispensed at pharmacies across the United States to unsuspecting patients, according to federal prosecutors.
Armando Herrera, 43, faces up to five years in prison for the crime.
Herrera plead guilty One count of conspiracy to introduce adulterated or counterfeit drug products into the U.S. market was indicted Monday in U.S. District Court in Miami, according to court filings.
A drug is treated as an impurity if it is replaced in whole or in part by a substance.
Herrera and his co-conspirators set up companies in Texas, California, and Washington state to obtain large amounts of fake branded and adulterated HIV drugs through legal channels and then distribute them by forging pill packaging. It was sold at a deep discount to wholesalers, who in turn sold it to pharmacies. says court documents.
Prosecutors said the wholesaler was involved in the criminal scheme, but the pharmacy had no knowledge that the drugs had been tampered with or disguised.
Adulterated and counterbranded medications included Truvada, Biktarvy, and other unnamed medications.
Truvada is prescribed to prevent HIV infection in people who are at risk of contracting the virus. This drug may also be used in combination with other drugs to treat infections.
Biktarvy is prescribed to treat HIV infection. Truvada and Biktarvy are manufactured by Gilead Sciences.
According to court filings, Herrera and his co-conspirators received payments of between $16.7 million and $25 million from two wholesalers.
The filing does not say how Herrera and his co-conspirators obtained the drugs.
Drugs are often siphoned off the legal market by purchasing them from individual patients who have prescribed them.
Herrera is scheduled to be sentenced on December 21, but his lawyer did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
