A London-based pharmacy owner and his employee were found guilty of fraud by the Southwark Crown Court for using over 1,500 false prescriptions of high-cost drugs to swindle the NHS.
The guilty have been identified as Jignesh Patel (46) and Rahil Patel (42) and the sentencing is due to take place on 16 October.
Jignesh is a pharmacist who owns Wise Pharmacy in Edmonton, London, and a pharmaceutical wholesale business Actipharm Limited, where Rahil worked as Responsible Person (RP).
Rahil was responsible for the record keeping and keeping tabs on where Actipharm obtained the medicines and which companies they were sold to.
Investigations by the Local Counter Fraud Specialist (LCFS) identified seven high-cost drugs, which are normally dispensed in a hospital environment, being dispensed at Wise Pharmacy contrary to the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) norms.
The drugs were Sprycel, Noxafil, Atripla, Eviplera, Tobramycin, Truvada and Viread.
The investigators found that the payment for prescriptions originated from four NHS CCG areas: Barnet, Enfield, Newham, and Tower Hamlets.
An alert sent by NHS England to pharmacies in north London in 2016 that it was unlikely there would be a need to dispense the drugs identified, and that pharmacists should contact the GP to confirm authenticity if presented with a prescription for them.
The CCGs had obtained copies of prescriptions, and checks made with the prescribing GPs showed there was no documentation to support the patient's need for the drug, or that it had been prescribed.
The NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) obtained all the prescriptions dispensed by Wise Pharmacy for the period May 2015 to November 2017, and identified 1,639 false prescriptions for 440 individual patients and 6,983 dispensed items.
Jignesh was arrested on 6 December 2017 and during a search of his properties the investigators seized £190,000 in cash.
The GPs shown as prescribers were interviewed and they confirmed that the prescriptions were false.
The two medicines showing the largest losses were Noxafil (posaconazole) and Sprycel (dasatinib) used to treat leukaemia.
To obtain these drugs, a pharmacist must demonstrate a legitimate clinical need for them to be purchased and dispensed.
The investigators found a payment of £28,920 for Noxafil, and invoices from Actipharm Ltd, was made to pharmaceutical wholesalers in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany.
Information from these companies, obtained using European Investigation Orders (EIOs), showed a connection between Wise Pharmacy obtaining the drugs from the manufacturer using false prescriptions.
The sale of the drugs was done through Actipharm, and their receipt by European pharmaceutical wholesale businesses.
The investigators found that the total value of Noxafil and Sprycel sold by Actipharm to companies in Europe totalled £779,405.
They established that Actipharm was selling Sprycel and Noxafil to other wholesale companies despite not having purchased them, after obtaining them through Wise Pharmacy.
Ben Harrison, Head of Operations and Engagement at the NHS Counter Fraud Authority, said: "Our expert investigation team followed the evidence, both in the UK and Europe, to bring these individuals to justice. This case demonstrates that there is no hiding place for those who seek to defraud the NHS.
"Jignesh Patel and Rahil Patel worked together for several years, obtaining drugs using false prescriptions and selling them on to European pharmaceutical wholesale businesses."
