Pharmacy Daily | Wholesaler prosecuted

THE NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal has made a finding of unsatisfactory professional conduct and professional misconduct against Mr Mina Attia, a registered pharmacist and wholesaler of pharmaceutical goods.

According to the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission, Attia was alleged to have been involved in the distribution of counterfeit Viagra, which was on-sold to the Sydney Children's Hospital for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

The tablets were sourced from Sajay Rai, who had been convicted in 2013 on two counts of "supply counterfeit therapeutic goods".

Attia's company Hillmear Trading Pty Ltd bought the fake drugs from Rai, and on-sold them to "one of the largest wholesale distributors in Australia" which in turn sold them to the hospital.

A pharmacist at the hospital became suspicious of the product while crushing the tablets in preparing medication to be given to paediatric patients, finding that the product was "uncharacteristically gritty".

A three day hearing was held in Jul 2016, during which Attia admitted to some of the allegations but not all.

The complaint alleged that he had breached his pharmaceutical wholesaler's licence by purchasing Viagra from an unlicensed supplier; failed to ensure that the product was genuine by contacting Pfizer; knew or ought to have known the product he purchased was not genuine; and provided the Therapeutic Goods Administration with false and misleading information in the course of its investigation into the distribution of the counterfeit Viagra.

Attia was found guilty, with the Tribunal commenting that it did not accept him as a truthful witness and "could not be confident that Mr Attia would act with complete candour in future dealings with regulators".

His registration was cancelled, with the Tribunal ordering that he must not apply for a review of the cancellation order for a period of 12 months.