December 1, 2025: More botulism cases underscore the need for regulated, supervised Botox use
An article in last week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report discussed three patients in New York, Texas, and Wisconsin who were hospitalized and treated for botulism after self-injecting cosmetic botulinum neurotoxin they had purchased from online vendors in Asia. The cases, which echo similar cases reported in 2024, are additional examples that show why U.S. consumers should only get FDA-approved cosmetic injections from licensed medical professionals.
Counterfeit Botox associated with botulism cases in April 2024 (FDA)
Domestic News
A supplement company CEO was convicted of wire fraud. A doctor will serve time for illegally reselling cancer drugs. Ohio’s Board of Pharmacy suspends a doctor’s drug dispensing license after finding illegally imported injectables.
A federal jury convicted Jared Wheat and his supplement company Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals of wire fraud in November. The Georgia resident doctored inspection reports from a third-party audit company to conceal violations of good manufacturing practice, including products being exposed contaminants before packaging, and lapses in testing for raw materials and finished products.
A Michigan oncologist was sentenced to 18 months in prison for procuring cancer drugs and illegally reselling them to coconspirators supplying international and domestic research and development companies and companies running clinical trials. Dr. Aslam, who will also forfeit more than $2.6 million in personal profits, acquired and sold more than $17 million in prescription cancer drugs between 2019 and 2023.
California-based Advoque Safeguard LLC and three employees were sentenced to probation and to pay a million dollars in fines for selling a hospital hundreds of thousands of misbranded respirators, falsely claiming that they were approved N95 masks, during the earliest phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tests conducted by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health found that the masks did not meet filtration standards of genuine N95 respirators.
Counterfeit and misbranded medical masks were very common during shortages at the height of the pandemic. This image shows boxes of masks seized by CBP in September 2020
Regulators protecting patients in the news
The Ohio Board of Pharmacy suspended a prescription drug license of a neurology practice in Newark after an inspection uncovered safety concerns, including vials of Tysabri, which treats multiple sclerosis, and Botox, sourced from an unlicensed distributor and labeled in a foreign language. According to the board’s Summary Suspension letter, the physician in charge of the practice claimed that “he did not know he needed to verify the license of a wholesaler prior to purchasing dangerous drugs.”
The FDA posted warning letters to a Texas-based 503b compounder and a drug manufacturer in Louisiana for violations of current good manufacturing practice, as well as companies in Texas, New Jersey, California, New Mexico and North Carolina selling unapproved tablets and eyedrops purporting to be treatments for serious illnesses such as measles, hepatitis, diabetes and glaucoma.
International News
A second fake pharmacy website is under prosecution in the Netherlands for selling fake oxycodone that killed someone. Authorities dismantled a steroid lab in Canada and an illicit medicine factory making cancer drugs in Turkey.
Law enforcement in Edmonton, Canada announced the seizure of tens of thousands of pills and a steroid pill press lab during an operation targeting a motorcycle gang last September.
Dutch authorities are prosecuting a fake pharmacy website linked to the death of a 44-year-old woman from counterfeit oxycodone made with nitazenes. This case is in addition to the website mentioned in last week’s round up, which is now being investigated in connection with at least 49 deaths.
The Guardian warned that good Trustpilot reviews for U.K. companies illegally selling the as-yet unapproved drug retatrutide weren’t an indicator of safety: the weight loss injections aren’t regulated, could contain the wrong ingredients or dose, or be contaminated.
Three U.K. residents were convicted for their roles in a ring that sold at least two million doses of unauthorized benzodiazepines, sedatives and other prescription-only medicines via a series of websites.
Turkish law enforcement dismantled an illicit medicine factory in Istanbul, seizing 1,230 boxes of illegal cancer medication, 150,000 synthetic drug pills, 25 kilograms of raw Pregabalin, and drug manufacturing equipment and materials.
The State Drug Control Commissionerate in Rajasthan, India warned residents about counterfeit lots of Algiwin-M, a combined pill for allergies and asthma, that did not contain one of its active ingredients.
Slaappillen.net (Sleepingpills.net) is the second website Dutch authorities are prosecuting for deadly pill sales (Wayback Machine)