Pharmacists put on probation after dispensing faulty weight loss drugs

“I’m fully regretful,” said Youjin Seo, a pharmacist who co-owned and works at Laughlin Pharmacy & Wellness Center.

Seo co-owned the pharmacy with Thu Vo, who Seo said was her “mentor” while both women worked at Valley View Medical Hospital.

When Vo called Seo to tell her the pharmacy was going to start providing weight loss injections to Laughlin customers, Seo said she didn’t think to “question her clinical expertise or judgment.”

But rather than purchasing wholesale products, like Ozempic, Laughlin Pharmacy & Wellness Center instead purchased the drug from a nearby pharmacy across the Arizona border called DeeFlat Pharmacy.

The Arizona pharmacy, which closed its doors in June after having its permit suspended by the Arizona State Board of Pharmacy, was owned by Vo’s husband, Tuan Dinh.

The Nevada State Board of Pharmacy opted to take parallel action Wednesday, revoking the pharmacy’s Nevada license after it was found to have prepared weight loss medications out of compliance with state standards.

Laughlin Pharmacy & Wellness Center kept its license and Vo’s ownership stake was sold to Seo, making her the pharmacy’s new owner.

But with Vo planning to resign and Seo’s probation prohibiting her from acting as a managing pharmacist, a role required for a pharmacy to operate, the future of the rural community’s only pharmacy looks uncertain.

A commercial shortage

The preparation of the weight loss drugs sold by both pharmacies is called “compounding,” which is a practice where a licensed pharmacist combines or otherwise alters the ingredients of a drug to create a medication tailored to the needs of an individual patient, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

One of the drugs DeeFlat pharmacy was compounding was semaglutide, which is the active ingredient in the popular name-brand drug Ozempic. The FDA said that semaglutide can be compounded when the drug is in shortage.

A shortage of wholesale products is what led Vo to opt for a compounded version of the drug, she testified at Wednesday’s meeting.

“The commercial product was on backorder,” Vo said. “We had multiple phone calls every day asking for the medication.”

Board member Anna Carr said that, having worked in the retail setting while these medications were on backorder, she “never felt that the backorder was severe enough to warrant the necessity” for compounding.

“I have a hard time believing that this was anything but financially motivated,” said board member Adam Porath.

‘Quite egregious’

At the time of dispensing, both Vo and Seo testified that they didn’t know that mixing the drug and placing it in an insulin syringe was considered sterile compounding. Park called this lack of awareness a concern.

“The allegations against both pharmacists and both pharmacies, to me, are quite egregious and very concerning as it relates to the safety of patients,” Park said at Wednesday’s meeting.

At DeeFlat pharmacy, investigators saw supplies used for sterile compounding “soaking and drying off like dirty dishes.”

Seo, tearful, said that when Vo told her the pharmacy would begin dispensing weight loss medication, she was excited.

“I thought we could provide affordable treatment for an underserved area,” Seo said.

But when Seo realized there was a problem, she said she called the five patients who had received the weight loss drugs to let them know. According to both Seo and Vo, none of the patients reported any issues.

Several patients shared written statements to that effect, according to both pharmacists.

‘Patients at risk’

According to the FDA, compounded drugs should only be used in patients whose medical needs cannot be met by an FDA-approved drug, as poor compounding practices can lead to serious drug quality problems such as contamination.

Board member Jade Jacobo said that while no patients reported harm, “this is exactly the type of financially motivated behavior that puts patients at risk.”

As terms of their probation, Vo and Seo must refrain from compounding in the near future and complete additional continued education training on sterile and nonsterile compounding.

The board gave Seo 60 days to find a new managing pharmacist at Laughlin Pharmacy & Wellness Center.

If she’s not successful in finding a replacement for Vo, the previous managing pharmacist, the pharmacy will have to cease operations.

Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @estellelilym on X and @estelleatkinson.bsky.social on Bluesky.