5 companies directly involved in fake drug scandal under investigation

Governor of Veracruz Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares has opened a probe into five drugs suppliers after news broke out earlier this week that state-run hospitals apparently gave children water instead of chemotherapy treatments.

In a press release, the governor's office says it is currently investigating:

1. Sociedad Comercializadora Especialidades Médicas, S.A de C.V.
2. Oncopharma, S.A. de C.V.
3. LABBSA, S.A. de C.V.
4. Suministro MAXBEC, S.A. de C.V.
5. LIDMED, S.A. de C.V.

The press statement goes on to say that a state-run pharmacy detected back in 2010 several cancer drugs that had been tampered with, which was then confirmed by the drugs' manufacturer, Roche. The international pharmaceuticals company was unable to identify the products' contents and confirmed that the drugs did not contain the main active ingredients.

During the administration of the fugitive ex-governor of Veracruz, Javier Duarte de Ochoa, the state continued to buy several drugs, which included chemotherapy treatments that were administered to children, from several companies despite being directly involved in the allegations and supposedly being under investigation at the time.

To make matters worse, although the state Comptroller General and Ministry of Health claim that they are in the process of recovering documentation to define the scope of the allegations, they also said they believe the vast majority of documentary evidence has since been destroyed.

The press statement concluded by thanking the nurses who reported the suspicious medication and insisted that neither physicians nor nurses are to blame for these “unfortunate events.”