After a local pharmaceutical distributor made national headlines recently because of federal charges related to the way opioids were shipped, the company said on Tuesday that it has hired two prominent compliance experts.
Rochester Drug Cooperative has hired Bonnie Jonas, co-founder of Pallas Global and an 18-year-veteran of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of NY, and Louis Milione, senior managing director of Guidepost Solutions and former leader of the Drug Enforcement Adminsitration’s diversion control operations.
Jonas was appointed Chair of RDC’s newly formed Controlled Substances Compliance Committee, and Milione will be its subject matter expert.
RDC is one of the nation's ten largest distributors of pharmaceutical products, with over 1,300 pharmacy customers and over $1 billion in revenue per year. The company says the vast majority of its customers are small, independent pharmacies.
As reported last month, the Rochester-based company has agreed to pay a $20 million fine to resolve a civil complaint and consented to three years of independent compliance monitoring.
Former CEO of RDC, Laurence Doud III is facing what federal prosecutors say are the first criminal charges against a drug company executive to stem from the opioid crisis.
Doud’s attorney has said he will fight the charges.
A spokesman last month said that the company did make mistakes regarding opioid distribution and it vowed to do better.
