La Jolla Businessman, James R. Newcomb, Pleads Guilty to Counterfeit Drug Importation Charges

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In an FDA report unsealed February 16th, La Jolla CA businessman, James R. Newcomb has pled guilty on charges of conspiracy to cause the introduction of adulterated prescription drugs into interstate commerce. Newcomb’s business, Ban Dune Marketing Inc (BDMI) of La Jolla, CA. has been named as a source of the counterfeit cancer drugs reported found in the United States in February and April of 2012

Who: FDA Office of Drug Safety and Availability.

When: Date of report; February 22, 2012 January 1, 2008-May 18, 2011.

Where: La Jolla, California, United States.

How: Investigation conducted by the Office of Criminal Investigation for the United States Food and Drug Administration and the Office of Inspector General for the United States Department of Health and Human Services, with assistance from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service of the U.S. Department of Defense.

Additional details:In 2008, Newcomb paid the state of California a $5,000 fine because another business he owned was wholesaling prescription drugs without a license.

Related sources:

" Drug Supplier Admits Distributing Unapproved Foreign Medications," St. Louis Dispatch, 2/22/2012.

" Altuzan (bevacizumab): February 16, 2012: Local Cancer Doctor Pleads Guilty to Receiving Misbranded Cancer Drugs, Two Californians also named in the Indicment ," FDA. 2/16/2012.

" FDA Finds New Batch of Counterfeit Avastin ," Wall Street Journal. 4/3/2012.

" California Man Sentenced for Importing Adulterated Cancer Drugs; Forfeits $1.4 Million & Land Rover Automobile," FDA 8/23/2012.