A Starkville physician was sentenced to three years of probation for receiving misbranded drugs in interstate commerce and distributing them with the intent to defraud his patients. In addition to the term of probation, the defendant was ordered to forfeit $105,322.53, to pay a fine of $95,000 and to pay restitution in the amount of $377,545.20. According to court documents, Benjamin Franklin Sanford, Jr., 69, of Starkville, Mississippi, is a physician who operated Starkville Internal Medicine. From April 2013 to June 2018, foreign versions of prescription drugs, including versions of Prolia, Boniva, and Aclasta, which had not been approved by the FDA, were shipped from overseas to Dr. Sanford’s clinic in Starkville. These drugs were administered to patients of Starkville Internal Medicine without their knowledge that the drugs were foreign versions of the subject drugs which were not FDA approved.
