Bihar man charged in US with selling fake cancer drugs, faces 100-year jail

A federal grand jury in Houston, Texas, has charged a 43-year-old Indian national from Bihar with selling and shipping counterfeit oncology medicines worth tens of thousands of dollars into the US. The man from Bihar has been charged on five counts and faces up to 100 years in prison.

Hailing from Bihar, Sanjay Kumar, and other co-conspirators allegedly arranged for the shipment and sale of counterfeit versions of oncology pharmaceuticals, including Keytruda -- a cancer immunotherapy, to people in the United States, according to court documents.

Sanjay Kumar is charged with one count of conspiracy to traffic counterfeit drugs and four counts of trafficking in counterfeit drugs. If convicted, the Bihar man faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count, according to the US Department of Justice.

Kumar was arrested on June 26 in Houston after he landed in the United States with the intention of negotiating and expanding his business of selling fake Keytruda in the American market, according to a US attorney.

"Keytruda is a cancer immunotherapy that is approved in the United States for 19 different indications, including the treatment of certain types of melanoma, lung cancer, head and neck cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, gastric cancer, cervical cancer, and breast cancer," authorities revealed.

In the US, a firm called, Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, has the sole right to authorise the manufacture of Keytruda for introduction into interstate commerce, said the US Attorney.