HOUSTON — A man accused of selling fake cancer drugs will face a federal judge in Houston on Thursday.
Sanjay Kumar, of Bihar, India, was arrested in Houston earlier this summer following an undercover investigation, according to a federal indictment
He is charged with one count of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit drugs and four counts of trafficking in counterfeit drugs, including Keytruda.
The feds say Kumar made tens of thousands of dollars by shipping counterfeit drugs to what he thought were private companies in Houston. Instead, the deals were made between 2019 and 2023 with undercover agents posing as private companies, according to the indictment.
Federal investigators say Kumar and his partners sold counterfeit Keytruda, a life-saving immunotherapy treatment used to treat certain types of melanoma, lung cancer, head and neck cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, gastric cancer, cervical cancer, and breast cancer. It's administered through IV treatments and isn't sold directly to patients.
The feds say Kumar used packaging that mimicked Merck's -- the manufacturer of Keytruda -- with fake labels and counterfeit versions of Merck trademarks.
KUMAR also sold counterfeit Adcetris and Opdivo, which are other prescription oncology drugs, according to the 14-page indictment.
The feds say Kumar and his partners in India sold the drugs for thousands of dollars per vial and made tens of thousands of dollars with the scheme.
In March of 2023, investigators say Kumar admitted to a "buyer" who questioned the authenticity of the drug that "we can’t deliver real or genuine Keytruda. Product will look like same but it’s not real.”
Kumar was arrested on June 26 after traveling to Houston to conduct further negotiations aimed at expanding his business selling fake Keytruda in the U.S. market, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count.
