Arkansas regulators were right to sanction a Florida pharmacist for illegally shipping medications to Arkansas, but were wrong to fine him and his company $70,000, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chip Welch ruled Monday.
The judge reduced that fine to $17,000 in a two-page order, describing the original fine as "excessive and overly harsh."
Welch's findings were the result of an appeal of the sanctions imposed in February on pharmacist Thomas Savino of Sarasota, Fla., and his company, WebRx Pharmacy Palace, for shipping prescription medications into Arkansas without proper licensing and permits, court records show.
The Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy initiated an investigation into Savino and WebRx Pharmacy after receiving a November 2019 report from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency that they had twice shipped ephedrine/pseudoephedrine into Arkansas to two patients.
Board investigators subpoenaed WebRx Pharmacy records that showed the company had shipped ephedrine/pseudoephdrine products to patients in Arkansas 14 times and hydrocortisone 2.5 cream 21 times between January 2019 and March 2020.
In May 2020, federal authorities reported that Savino and WebRx were continuing to ship the ephedrine/pseudoephedrine products into Arkansas. The board sent Savino and WebRx Pharmacy a cease-and-desist notice in June 2020.
The fine was based on $1,000 per medication shipped to Arkansas by WebRx Pharmacy ($35,000), with Savino fined $500 per product ($17,500). The remaining $17,500 represented the board's investigation costs.
The board found Savino and WebRx Pharmacy "guilty of fraud, deceit or misrepresentation in the practice of pharmacy [and] unprofessional or dishonorable conduction" and that "have directly or indirectly aided or abetted the practice of pharmacy by a person not authorized to practice pharmacy" in Arkansas.
WebRx Pharmacy and Savino denied deliberate wrongdoing, stating they had complied fully with all Florida regulations and noting that all of the medications sent to Arkansas were supplied in a lawful manner in that state. Savino further stated that he had stopped services to Arkansas.
In the appeal, pharmacy lawyers, describing the medications as an "itching cream and nasal decongestant" complained that it was unfair to fine WebRx and Savino for the same conduct even though they are legally one and the same. The board also failed to demonstrate how it had spent $17,500 on the investigation, the lawyers noted.