Indian national sentenced in US for selling counterfeit cancer drug

An Indian national has been sentenced to 43 months in prison in the United States for conspiring to sell counterfeit cancer medication worth tens of thousands of dollars.

According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), 45-year-old Sanjay Kumar was sentenced on Thursday to 43 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release after pleading guilty last year to one count of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods.

Court documents show that between August 2018 and June 2024, Kumar and his co-conspirators arranged the sale of counterfeit versions of the prescription drug Keytruda, an immunotherapy treatment widely used to treat several types of cancer, to undercover law enforcement agents in the United States.

Keytruda is approved in the US for treating various conditions including melanoma, lung cancer, head and neck cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, gastric cancer, cervical cancer and breast cancer. The drug is manufactured exclusively by Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC for introduction into interstate commerce.

Investigators found that the counterfeit medication sold by Kumar bore fake trademarks and was chemically inconsistent with the real drug, lacking the active ingredient required to treat cancer. As a result, the product was completely ineffective.

Authorities said Kumar and his associates received approximately $89,268 from sales of the counterfeit drug to undercover investigators.

Before his arrest in Houston, Kumar had also attempted to arrange additional shipments of the fake drug into the US during meetings with undercover agents.

According to the DOJ, Kumar even acknowledged the dangers posed by counterfeit medicines, telling investigators that the fake Keytruda would not treat cancer and was “just like water.”

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with assistance from the US Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations.

Trial attorneys from the DOJ’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) and the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas prosecuted the case.