New Jersey Doctor Admits Buying and Selling Oncology Medication for Profit

NEWARK, N.J. – A New Jersey doctor today admitted using her medical license – and allowing others to use it – to purchase prescription oncology medications under false pretenses to sell them for profit, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Anise Kachadourian, 55, of Towaco, New Jersey, a board-certified oncologist, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark federal court to an information charging her with unlawfully selling prescription cancer medication, which had been previously purchased using her medical license and under the representation that such medication was to be used to treat her patients.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

While working in her medical practice’s offices in various locations in New Jersey, Kachadourian was recruited by an individual who owned a pharmacy and also owned and operated two businesses that were wholesale distributors of prescription drugs. At the request of this individual and others working with him, in return for payment of approximately $5,000 per month, Kachadourian used her medical license – and allowed others to use it – to purchase expensive prescription drugs, primarily, cold-chain biologic infusion medications that typically are used to treat cancers, macular degeneration, and autoimmune diseases. By recruiting and using Kachadourian and her medical license to purchase the drugs, these individuals were able to obtain prescription drugs from the pharmaceutical manufacturers’ authorized distributors that they would not otherwise have been permitted to purchase. They were then able to sell them at a profit through their two businesses.

In purchasing the drugs, Kachadourian and the individuals made numerous false and misleading representations to the pharmaceutical manufacturers and authorized distributors, including that Kachadourian purchased the drugs to use to treat her patients, and that the drugs would not be resold or redistributed. In actuality, none of the drugs were administered to any of Kachadourian’s patients, but were ultimately sold to customers of the two businesses. Kachadourian was paid more than $170,000 for purchasing and allowing others to purchase in her name millions of dollars in prescription drugs during the scheme, which ran from October 2016 through January 2019.

Kachadourian is the third doctor who has pleaded guilty in connection with this fraudulent scheme.

The sale of prescription drugs purchased by a healthcare entity is punishable by a maximum of three years in prison and a $10,000 fine. In her plea agreement, Kachadourian also agreed to make restitution for the full amount of any loss resulting from her offense. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 6, 2024.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations New York Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Fernando P. McMillan; and special agents of U.S. Attorney’s Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Thomas Mahoney, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Diana Vondra Carrig and Sara A. Aliabadi of the U.S Attorney’s Office in Camden.