Geoffrey Potter Featured in CNBC Segment on Counterfeit Drug Schemes
December, 2023 - New York, New York
On Monday, December 11, Partner Geoffrey Potter was featured in a CNBC news story about pharmaceutical companies' efforts to identify and fight hundreds of millions of dollars of counterfeit prescription drugs being sold in U.S. pharmacies.
"Geoffrey Potter, a partner with the New York City-based law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, represents both Gilead and Johnson & Johnson. 'We don't know how much counterfeit medication is in the system because there is no good way of measuring it. But when we do find these schemes, they are very large,' he said. In the [Lazaro] Hernandez case, which involved distributors throughout the country, Potter said, there was no easy way to determine whether a pill bottle was real or fake just by looking at it. 'Virtually nobody inspects their medication before taking it, so they wouldn't be able to tell,' he said. Potter said counterfeiters such as Hernandez use sophisticated methods similar to those favored by drug traffickers. That isn't surprising since a number of them have been convicted of narcotics-related crimes, he added."
In June 2023, Mr. Hernandez was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for his involvement in a criminal ring that distributed counterfeit HIV drugs to pharmacies, putting vulnerable patients at risk.
To watch the full CNBC video segment and to read the article on CNBC.com, please click here.
