Diluted Drug Inquiry Is Expanded

The FBI widened its investigation Wednesday into a pharmacist accused of weakening cancer drugs for profit, saying tests show another medication mixed at one of his stores was not at full strength.

Robert R. Courtney is charged with diluting the chemotherapy drugs Gemzar and Taxol at his Research Medical Tower Pharmacy in this city.

Now, two samples of the infertility medication progesterone from his store in Merriam, Kan., have been shown to be watered down.

“We’re looking at the possibility that a second person may have done these dilutions” because Courtney had little involvement with the Kansas store, FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said.

He said the federal Food and Drug Administration examined the progesterone samples and also is testing the potency of other drugs from the Merriam store. Lanza would not say which drugs were being tested or when results were expected.

“This is a pretty significant step in this investigation because now it involves another pharmacy on the Kansas side,” Lanza said. “It involves a whole new set of patients, a new set of doctors and the potential of health ramifications involving these patients.”

Progesterone is a hormone secreted by the female reproductive system to prepare the body to accept a fertilized egg. Using diluted progesterone could prevent the intended effect from occurring but otherwise is not particularly harmful, said Mary Euler, assistant professor of pharmacy practice at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

No one has been charged or taken into custody, Lanza said. The store has one main pharmacist and a few who sometimes fill in.

Courtney has been held without bail since his arrest Aug. 15. He has pleaded not guilty to 20 federal counts of tampering, adulterating and misbranding two chemotherapy drugs that a Kansas City physician prescribed for her patients. A trial is scheduled for March.

The government claims Courtney confessed to diluting the chemotherapy drugs so he could pocket the difference in price.