Man indicted in sale of 'homemade', untested cancer drugs

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama man has been indicted on charges he manufactured homemade and untested cancer drugs in his kitchen and marketed them to “alternative-medicine doctors" in the U.S., Mexico and elsewhere, according to federal prosecutors.

Patrick Charles Bishop, 54, was charged with conspiracy and nearly three-dozen other fraud-related counts in the purchase, manufacture and distribution of drug products that were never been reviewed or approved by federal regulators, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama announced Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Bishop claimed the drugs, which contained a compound he purchased from a Chinese manufacturer, were effective cancer treatments. He sold them to holistic cancer treatment centers and other clinics for use on patients, the U.S. Justice Department said.

According to the indictment, Bishop purchased the compound for $600,000 and “repeatedly assured” the manufacturer he would only use it for research purposes. But prosecutors said that instead, he and others used the ingredient to make homemade suppositories in nonsterile facilities such as his kitchen in Birmingham, and at a warehouse in Pelham.

Bishop was also charged with fraudulently introducing adulterated drugs and misbranded drugs into interstate commerce, fraudulently obtaining pre-retail medical products, creating false documentation and knowingly possessing and trafficking in pre-retail medical products obtained by fraud, according to the indictment.

If convicted, Bishop could face more than 20 years in prison. The statement did not say whether he had an attorney who could comment for him.