Elizabeth Kelley has decided to speak out against the government’s war on steroids in her new blog, “Government on Roids” after her husband was sentenced to 10 years in prison for steroid-related crimes as the principal owner and chief executive officer of Applied Pharmacy Services (APS).
Kelley describes how her husband, A. Samuel Kelley II, was actively involved in fighting for the rights of compounding pharmacies, how he joined “Compounders on Capitol Hill” to help educate Congress, and how he joined a class-action lawsuit against the FDA on behalf of compounding pharmacies.
The compounding pharmacies defeated the FDA, winning a landmark ruling that made compounded drugs fully legal and not subject to regulation by the FDA as new drugs. The official ruling was handed down on August 30, 2006.
The federal government coincidentally raided APS on August 30, 2006 as well.
An official ruling by U.S. District Judge Rob Junell in Midland, Texas, on August 30, 2006 stated that the FDA had no right to be involved in compounding pharmacies because the drugs they compounded, for doctors on behalf of patients, was not “new” medications. On that same day Applied Pharmacy Services, in Mobile, AL, was raided along with 10 physicians, out of many, that had prescriptions filled by Applied Pharmacy Services (APS), a FDA agent was present during that raid, even though Judge Junell told them they were breaking the law by being there. […]
FDA attorney was miffed and asked the judge why he ruled in our favor and the judge said because you are breaking the law. The unofficial ruling was in July of 2006, the official ruling on all 5 counts was on August 30th, 2006, the day of the raid on APS.
Ms. Kelley places the cost of the federal government case against APS at $4 million:
We were under the impression, if you weren’t doing anything wrong, you should fight for your rights. Who knew that the system was corrupt, that it did not work that way. If you fight, they take it personally and will spend millions of tax payer dollars to destroy you, 4 million to be exact.
The federal government described APS CEO Sam Kelley as a steroid “kingpin” that was responsible for illeglly selling 2,465,701 dosage units of anabolic-androgenic steroids when they sentenced him to 10 years in prison.
Ms. Kelley reveals how many of those compounded dosages were dispensed for HIV/AIDS patients at substantially lower cost than brand name pharmaceutical sold by BigPharma.
Most of our patients were HIV /AIDS, which gave them a much better quality of life.During the trial, Nelson Vergel, co-author of Built To Survive, testified that Big Phama charged $150.00 per bottle of testosterones, we charged $9.95.He also testified that he would not be alive if it weren’t for our pharmacy. Our pharmacy was mentioned in his book as a good source to purchase the medications. We sent a sample of every batch of hormones, not required by law, to an independent lab to check for sterility & strength.
APS tried so hard to not only be within the governmental guidelines, but above.
Ms. Kelley writes about how Dr. David Brushwood, a Professor at the University of Florida, testified that “every prescription was legal”.
One of our witnesses is a Professor from the University of Florida. Dr. David Brushwood, who is both a pharmacist and an attorney, testified that “every prescription was legal”, and that it did not matter that patients and doctors were in different states as well as the pharmacy, he referred to a person looking for a specialist doctor to treat cancer or hospital with a specialty for some sort of treatment. He also said that a pharmacist must take every doctor’s order/prescription, in an isolated environment, and fill it “prescriptions do not come with stories.”
Ms. Kelley criticizes the media for never contacting them for their side of the story but having time to leak the names of celebrity athletes and entertainers who filled their prescriptions at APS.
The media has been against us, I suppose it was because we were told to not talk to them since they can turn your words around and it would taint the case. However, my husband sent a letter to a reporter he felt would give us a fair chance but that reporter never contacted us. Why does the media not want to report our side?? We have yet to be approached. Of Course, when it was reported that we were filling prescriptions for Jose Conseco, Evander Holyfield, and some wrestlers (we don’t follow wrestling), and for the record, Mr. Holyfield and Mr. Conseco used aliases. They are retired, besides, why can’t athletes receive HRT?
Ms. Kelley criticizes all the physicians who “rolled over” and testified against them for the prosecution in plea agreements that allowed them to avoid jail time. The only doctor who refused to testify against APS was Dr. Jesse Haggard.
The doctors, who were indicted, that we filled prescriptions for, all stated that they didn’t know that they were doing anything wrong. They testified for the prosecution and have served very light sentences because they rolled over. Some received probation, some 12 months, some in home confinement for 6 months. My husband, Sam Kelley & his cousin/business partner, Jason Kelley, are serving 10 years each.
Pharmacist cannot ever practice medicine with a felony, but doctors can, and they are.
One doctor, Dr. Jesse Haggard, who plead guilty told prosecution he would not testify against us because he felt we did nothing wrong, he is actually serving a year in prison.
She wonders why CVS, Rite-Aid, Walgreens, etc. can fill steroid prescriptions and not have their pharmacists indicted. Could it be that only compounding pharmacies are prosecuted?
Can someone tell me why my husband is taken from me and my three children just because his pharmacists filled doctors prescriptions/orders?
Does CVS, Rite-Aid, Walgreens fill prescriptions for various testosterones? Do the owners of these pharmacies and their pharmacists get indicted? How about the Low-T commercials? How is it that big pharma can crank it out but little compounding pharmacies get prosecuted, having to dump all their money into lawyers to fight for their rights to fill prescriptions?
She also offers commentary on the new “Low-T” commercials:
LowT commercials show a man that is tired looking and then he gets on “steroids” and he feels young again. So the man feels better, he goes to the gym, he loses weight, he buys new clothes, he flirts with his wife again. The government does not want that, that’s not medically necessary.
>Oh but wait, Abbott and Solvay Pharmaceuticals, among others can.
Ms. Kelley’s “Government on Roid” blog adds an unheard voice to the published media accounts of the Applied Pharmacy Services ‘steroid scandal’.
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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