Man from India arrested in Texas for allegedly selling fake cancer treatment drugs to people in the US

A man was arrested in Houston, Texas, on allegations he sold and shipped counterfeit cancer drugs worth tens of thousands of dollars to people in the U.S.

Sanjay Kumar, 43, of Bihar, India, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday.

He was arrested on Friday in Houston while he was in the U.S. to negotiate additional deals to expand his illicit business of selling fake oncology pharmaceuticals in the U.S., according to the U.S. Justice Department.

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Kumar and his co-conspirators are accused of orchestrating the sale and shipment of counterfeit versions of Keytruda and other oncology pharmaceuticals to unsuspecting people in the U.S.

The DOJ said genuine Keytruda is a cancer immunotherapy that is approved in the U.S. for 19 different indications, including for treatment of lung cancer, head and neck cancer, gastric cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma and melanoma.

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Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC has the exclusive right to manufacture and distribute Keytruda in the U.S., according to the DOJ.

Kumar is charged with one count of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit drugs and four counts of trafficking in counterfeit drugs. If convicted, he could face as many as 20 years in prison on each count.