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# Canadian Companies Sentenced in Unapproved Drugs Scheme
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/canadian-companies-sentenced-in-unapproved-drugs-scheme/
- Published: 2018-07-16T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T00:19:36.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5141871

A federal court has sentenced **Kristjan Thorkelson** (Manitoba, Canada) and several associated Canadian companies to forfeit $29 million in illegal proceeds and to pay a $5 million fine for shipping unapproved drugs to U.S. healthcare providers. “In 2010, it came to the attention of the FDA that Canada Drugs was shipping to health care providers in the United States prescription drugs that were unapproved in the United States, labeled with foreign languages, and that lacked adequate instructions for use,” a government [release ](https://www.justice.gov/usao-mt/pr/canadian-drug-firm-admits-selling-counterfeit-and-misbranded-prescription-drugs?ref=fdaweb.com)says. “In two instances, Canada Drugs, through its subsidiary River East Supplies, distributed counterfeit cancer drugs Avastin and Altuzan (the Turkish version of the drug) in the United States. Testing of vials of the drugs recovered from these shipments revealed that both contained no active ingredient.”