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| Fake botox lands US doctor in prison |
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12 December 2006
SALMON (Idaho): A federal court has sentenced a doctor in Boise, Idaho, to six months in prison for injecting 200 people with fake Botox to smooth their wrinkles, officials said.
Ivyl Wells, 66, the former operator of a Boise skincare clinic, in July confessed he sought to boost his profits by purchasing counterfeit Botox at a discount and charging his patients full price for wrinkle-fighting treatments, according to court documents.
As part of an agreement with federal prosecutors, Wells pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud and admitted he knew the bogus Botox he ordered by mail from an Arizona company was considered unsafe for human use. BotoxA, manufactured by Allergan Inc., is the only drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for treating wrinkles.
Patients injected by Wells with the Botox knockoff said they experienced unpleasant symptoms, including headaches, swelling and bruising for months following the cosmetic procedure, said Assistant US Attorney Kevin Maloney.
Wells in 2004 ordered the fake Botox from Toxin Research International in Tucson. Chad Livdahl and Zarah Karim, the husband-and-wife doctors from Florida who ran Toxin Research International, were sentenced to prison in January after pleading guilty to federal fraud charges.
Wells "lied to his patients solely for financial gain," Maloney said in an interview. "This sends a message to doctors and to anyone in a position of trust that defrauding your patients or your clients will be taken seriously."
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