State Board to Request Reports of Painkiller Orders

West Virginia’s Board of Pharmacy plans to ask prescription drug wholesalers to report pharmacies that place suspiciously large orders of painkillers or other controlled substances.

The board plans to forward those reports to the state Attorney General’s Office, which last week sued a pharmacy in Boone County, alleging it provided too many highly addictive painkillers over more than a decade.

The distributors McKesson Corp. and Cardinal Health now notify the state of such questionable orders.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail (http://bit.ly/2hAI2Wi) reports the pharmacy board has agreed to send letters asking other wholesalers.

The board’s rules require they report suspicious prescription drug orders, but the regulations don’t spell out the criteria.

Distributors already submit reports on suspicious drug orders to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Attorney General Sues Two Utah-Based Pharmacies

West Virginia’s attorney general has filed lawsuits against two pharmacies that he’s seeking to block from doing business in the state.

  Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office filed the lawsuits against David Pharmacy LLC and Rock City Pharmacy LLC in the Raleigh Circuit Court Thursday. His office says both pharmacies are based in Utah.

Morrisey says the companies used personal information from patients to transfer prescriptions to their Utah pharmacies without the patients’ authorization. He says that meant patients had to pay much more for their prescriptions.

Morrisey is also seeking a $5,000 fine for each violation of the state’s consumer protection laws.

An official with Rock City Pharmacy was not immediately available for comment on Friday. David Pharmacy didn’t immediately return a message.

Former Pharmacy Owner Pleads Guilty

A former Barboursville pharmacy owner has pleaded guilty to avoiding federal cash reporting requirements.

Kofi Ohene Agyekum faces up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing is set for Aug. 3.

U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin says the 37-year-old Agyekum made a series of cash deposits in amounts less than $10,000 to multiple accounts at banks in the Barboursville area.

Federal law requires financial institutions to report cash transactions exceeding $10,000 to the federal government.

Agyekum pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court in Huntington to violating federal banking laws.

Goodwin says Agyekum will forfeit more than $2 million to the government under a plea agreement, along with a Lexus and his home in Barboursville.

Two West Virginia Universities Sign Educational Agreement

West Virginia State University and Marshall University are collaborating to help students interested in earning a doctorate in pharmacy.
 
The schools signed a memorandum of understanding Monday at Marshall’s pharmacy school in Huntington.
 
The agreement allows qualifying students at West Virginia State to enroll at Marshall’s pharmacy school and receive credit for up to 72 hours of college-level coursework. In addition, students who complete two years of pharmacy course work at Marshall will become eligible to receive a bachelor’s degree in chemistry or biology from West Virginia State.
 
West Virginia State provost and vice president for academic affairs R. Charles Byers says the agreement will create more educational and career options for West Virginia State graduates.

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