WINNIPEG – A tentative plea agreement has been reached that would see a Winnipeg-based online pharmacy and two affiliated businesses fined millions of dollars for selling misbranded and counterfeit drugs in the United States.
The agreement, which still has to be approved by a U.S. district court in Montana, would see Canada Drugs and two subsidiaries plead guilty, pay a US$5 million fine and forfeit US$29 million.
A separate plea agreement for the company’s president, Kris Thorkelson, would see Thorkelson pay a $250,000 fine and serve six months of house arrest followed by four and a half years of probation.
READ MORE: Reducing your risk of cancer can be done by changing these 17 lifestyle factors
The deals would also require the company to surrender its domain names and stop any distribution of unapproved or misbranded drugs in the U.S.
Canada Drugs was charged with selling counterfeit cancer drugs online over a three-year period ending in 2012.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration would not comment on the matter while it is still before the courts, and calls to Canada Drugs, Thorkelson and the company’s lawyer were not returned.