Treasure Coast Pharmacy, a Florida-based compounding pharmacy, was one of the largest suppliers of anabolic steroids in the United States according to state and federal investigators. Treasure Coast was raided last month after a joint investigation by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Florida Department of Health. The investigation identified 57 doctors who prescribed 10,774 orders of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (hGH) over a six-month period.
The DEA and Department of Health have questioned the validity of these steroid prescriptions given the fact that the majority of the doctors apparently resided in different states than their patients. Thirty of the prescribing doctors lived in Florida. One Florida doctor was responsible for writing 4,400 of the prescriptions
“Physicians who have never examined patients are signing prescriptions that are presented to them for signature, based on orders that patients have placed over the Internet,” investigators said. “Physicians sign the prescriptions without examining the patients and without determining whether the quantities and dosages of the anabolic-androgenic steroids and (human growth hormone) are medically appropriate.”
The owner of Treasure Coast Specialty Pharmacy is licensed pharmacist Peter Del Toro. Del Toro allegedly filled 85 percent of the orders at Treasure Coast according to an emergency suspension order of the pharmacy’s permit approved by the Florida Department of Health. However, four other pharmacists working for Treasure Coast also allegedly participated in the dispensing of anabolic steroids and PEDs
“Mr. Del Toro knows or should know that the prescriptions for anabolic-androgenic steroids and (human growth hormone) that are supplied to Treasure Coast for fulfillment are signed by physicians who are often not located in the same states as the patients seeking medications, and that physicians have not established a physician-patient relationship with the patients,” the order stated.
Treasure Coast Specialty Pharmacy has also been publicly linked to two anti-aging and hormone replacement clinics – Lifetime Wellnes and Infinity Longevity. The owners of these clinics have faced their own legal problems related to anabolic steroid and hGH distribution.
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