February 2, 2026: Med spa owner charged with posing as a registered nurse
Major Stories
A North Dakota med spa owner faces felony charges after she allegedly represented herself as a registered nurse, despite holding no medical licenses, and unlawfully performed medical procedures. She also allegedly used a staff member’s medical license to prescribe medications and perform procedures. A patient at the med spa, who is a registered nurse, told police she had to coach the owner through the IV administration process, and that air traveled through the IV tubing into her vein.
Politico reported that Florida’s $80 million plan to import Canadian medicine has stalled, largely due to resistance from Canada’s drug industry. PSMs Executive Director is quoted, criticizing the effort as “financially unfeasible,” showing that “even after spending $80 million, you can’t solve your problems by importing another country’s medicine supply.”
Domestic
A rheumatologist settled a suit over injecting patients with non-FDA-approved drugs while seeking full Medicare reimbursement, and a Florida pill press case.
A North Carolina rheumatologist agreed to pay nearly $550,000 to settle allegations that he improperly billed Medicare for unapproved arthritis drugs intended for foreign markets. Federal authorities allege that the physician bought cheaper, non- FDA-approved drugs from unauthorized distributors. They say he sought full Medicare reimbursement, though the settlement includes no admission of liability.
Federal agents seized fentanyl linked to a Florida man after intercepting a mailed package from Los Angeles and executing a search warrant at his home, where a manual pill press was found. The suspect was taken into federal custody, and authorities said the fentanyl alone has an estimated street value of up to $200,000.
An op-ed urging legislators to protect Washingtonians from gray market weight loss medicines cited PSM’s Freight Fraud report.
Empty pill capsules. (photo: DEA)
Regulators
The FDA warned that a Malaysian manufacturing facility’s failure to test for ingredients that have caused “lethal poisoning incidents” and failures in microbial testing compromise the safety of drug ingredients across the supply chain, posing serious risks to patients. The facility’s contract laboratories were also inadequately assessed, which means that ingredient safety could not be assured before distribution.
Legislation
Rhode Island S2387 seeks to establish a wholesale drug importation program.
Keep up with state legislation in the areas of pill presses, prescription drug affordability boards, drug importation, and med spas.
GLP-1s
A 31-year-old UK woman turned to the illegal grey market to buy “research use only” retatrutide, an experimental weight loss drug still in clinical trials, after rapidly regaining weight when she stopped using the licensed injection Mounjaro. The story highlights the dangers of the drug, with one doctor saying, “We are very worried for patient safety as these fake medicines can cause serious harm.”
Still, she says, “It’s the only option I have left. It’s just how far the skinny jab spiral has pushed me… It’s a dicey decision, but I feel I have no other option.” In the first weeks of taking retatrutide, she noted that along with experiencing hair loss, she doesn’t “know if [the weight loss is] from the nausea or the injection.”
International
U.K. experts warned about the potential for counterfeit GLP-1 pills. Australian authorities warned about counterfeit Botox. Unapproved cancer medicine in Zimbabwe, and an analysis of the counterfeit medicine problem in Nigeria.
After winning the National Lottery in 2010, a U.K. man used his £2.4 million jackpot to fund a counterfeit drug operation, running an illegal pill factory from a rural cottage and producing fake prescription tablets worth up to £288 million on the street. He has been sentenced to more than 16 years.
Experts are warning that the recent FDA approval of oral weight-loss drugs could lead to a surge in counterfeit products in the U.K., as tablets are easier and cheaper for criminals to fake than injectable treatments.
Australia’s drug regulator warned that counterfeit Botox vials continue to be imported despite earlier alerts. The fake products, designed to look like genuine Allergan Botox, pose serious health risks. The TGA identified batch number C8478C4, which AbbVie has confirmed is not genuine.
Counterfeit vials. (Photo: TGA)
The Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe warned that unauthorized Zoladex (goserelin) injections are circulating through illegal channels, likely diverted from another market.
An article detailed how Nigeria’s widespread counterfeit and substandard medicines problem is fueled by weak regulation, porous borders, and profit-driven drug markets. Experts warn the crisis is costing lives and will persist without stronger enforcement and systemic reform.