Canadian Doctor Convicted of Bringing Unapproved Medicine Into US to Treat NFL and MLB Players
A Toronto doctor pleaded guilty to felony charges of smuggling unapproved drugs into the US to treat American professional football and baseball players.
Dr. Anthony Galea, 51, faces a maximum sentenced of three years in prison and $500,000 of fines and forfeitures, for providing unapproved medical treatments to professional athletes, including players in the National Football League and Major League Baseball. Galea, not licensed to practice in the US, admitted traveling to New York City, Miami, Washington, DC, and Boston among 13 locations, to administer treatments including mixtures of human growth hormone (HGH) and Actovegin, reports the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations.
Actovegin is not approved for use in humans. Additionally, HGH is not approved for the treatment of the sports injuries and is banned by the NFL and MLB.
Said U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr., “We … stand committed to protecting the health and well-being of our citizens by enforcing regulations which identify the type of substances which may be safely injected into the human body. Here, the defendant admitted to not only bringing unapproved substances into the country repeatedly, but that he also practiced medicine without a license, supervised criminal conduct of others, and obstructed justice through the actions of one of the defendant’s Canadian employees.”
“Today’s guilty plea by Dr. Anthony Galea is the result of a thorough and sensitive investigation into his illegal introduction of the unapproved and misbranded drugs…into American commerce,” said Special Agent in Charge Mark Dragonetti of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, New York Field Office.
“A key component of ICE’s border security mission is to stop the flow of illegal, misbranded, and unapproved drugs into the United States,” said Lev J. Kubiak, Special Agent in Charge of ICE, Homeland Security Investigations Buffalo office.