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FDA: Oregon woman helped smuggle, sell unapproved cat medicine from China
by: John Ross Ferrara
Posted: Apr 3, 2023 / 03:24 PM PDT
Updated: Apr 3, 2023 / 03:24 PM PDT
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – An Oregon woman has been named in a civil forfeiture case brought against a group of people who are accused of smuggling an unapproved drug from China into the U.S. that’s used to treat feline infectious peritonitis — a viral cat disease known as the “feline coronavirus” — and later selling for profit.
According to an official court declaration provided by Special Agent Hilary Rickher of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, Nancy Ross of White City, Ore. aided Texas resident Nicole Shelby Randall in illegally selling the drug through the private Facebook group “FIP Warriors 5.0.” The alleged cat medicine racket, which is thought to have operated between September 2019 and July 2022, netted Randall more than $9 million, authorities said.
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Instead, the falsely labeled shipments from Hong Kong contained the drug GS-441524, an unapproved feline coronavirus treatment developed by the U.S. company Gilead Sciences. Studies have shown that the drug has been effective as an at-home treatment for feline coronavirus, which was previously considered a death sentence for cats. However, according to a 2020 report by “The Atlantic,” Gilead Sciences stopped pursuing FDA approval for the drug due to its similarity to its COVID-19 treatment remdesivir, which was approved by the FDA in 2020. According to The Atlantic article, “Gilead worried that the cat research could impede the approval process for remdesivir.”...
FDA: Oregon woman helped smuggle, sell unapproved cat medicine from China
by: John Ross Ferrara
Posted: Apr 3, 2023 / 03:24 PM PDT
Updated: Apr 3, 2023 / 03:24 PM PDT
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – An Oregon woman has been named in a civil forfeiture case brought against a group of people who are accused of smuggling an unapproved drug from China into the U.S. that’s used to treat feline infectious peritonitis — a viral cat disease known as the “feline coronavirus” — and later selling for profit.
According to an official court declaration provided by Special Agent Hilary Rickher of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, Nancy Ross of White City, Ore. aided Texas resident Nicole Shelby Randall in illegally selling the drug through the private Facebook group “FIP Warriors 5.0.” The alleged cat medicine racket, which is thought to have operated between September 2019 and July 2022, netted Randall more than $9 million, authorities said.
...
Instead, the falsely labeled shipments from Hong Kong contained the drug GS-441524, an unapproved feline coronavirus treatment developed by the U.S. company Gilead Sciences. Studies have shown that the drug has been effective as an at-home treatment for feline coronavirus, which was previously considered a death sentence for cats. However, according to a 2020 report by “The Atlantic,” Gilead Sciences stopped pursuing FDA approval for the drug due to its similarity to its COVID-19 treatment remdesivir, which was approved by the FDA in 2020. According to The Atlantic article, “Gilead worried that the cat research could impede the approval process for remdesivir.”...