Previous State Court Proceedings and Other Pending Civil Court Proceedings against Gary D. Osborn and ApotheCure

Before the federal government brought criminal charges against Gary D. Osborn and ApothéCure, there were state proceedings in Oregon and Texas.  The Pharmacy Board of the State of Oregon filed a Notice of Proposed Civil Penalty. The board reviewed the case and voted unanimously in 2007 to issue a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 per violation. Click here to see press release.

Oregon's Attorney General filed a complaint in Marion County Circuit Court.   ApothéCure, Inc., was not registered with the Oregon Board of Pharmacy as required by law. Oregon's lawsuit alleged that the unlicensed company unlawfully sold dangerous prescription drugs in Oregon including Colchicine, a highly toxic drug that must be used with great care to avoid injury and death.  In this Oregon case, Osborn and ApothéCure entered into a Stipulated General Judgment, which provided that ApothéCure was out-of-business in Oregon until all necessary licenses were obtained and a $500,000 penalty was paid.   

In November 2010, the Texas State Board of Pharmacy reprimanded Osborn's pharmacist license because he had failed to ensure that an error did not occur during the making of the compounded preparation of colchicine.  The board fined ApothéCure $125,000 and placed its license on probation for one year with the condition that the pharmacy develop and implement a continuous quality improvement program for preventing and handling dispensing errors.  The Texas States Attorney General also filed a lawsuit against ApothéCure and Osborn. Click here to see petition and here for press release.

The families of two of the colchicine victims filed wrongful death lawsuits and reached confidential settlements with ApothéCure.  The third family is negotiating a settlement with the company
On February 19, 2008, Hartford Lloyds Insurance  Company filed a civil action against Osborn and ApothéCure in the Northern District of Texas in case number 3:08-cv-00288-P.  This case is still pending. 

Cheryl A. Thompson has written an article posted on the The American Society of Health-System Pharmacits' website entitled Criminal Charges Not Necessarily Criminalization of Medication Error. Click here to read this article.