Ex-Pharmatech CEO Pleads Guilty to Defrauding FDA

Former Pharmatech CEO Raidel Figueroa has pled guilty to conspiring to defraud FDA, falsifying records in an agency investigation, obstructing proceedings before FDA, and distributing adulterated drugs, according to a Justice Department release. The drug and dietary supplement manufacturer previously operated in Broward County, FL.

The case dates to a 7/2016 FDA inspection at Pharmatech as part of an investigation into an outbreak of Burkholderia cepacia infections. Figueroa was notified that a water sample taken as part of the inspection tested positive for B. cepacia.

Although Figueroa told the agency that the company’s purified water system was being reengineered to prevent future contamination, the indictment says he lied during a 3/2017 inspection about the identity of products being manufactured and about the status of the water system.