An Indian national from Bihar, Sanjay Kumar, has been sentenced to 43 months in federal prison in the United States for running a counterfeit cancer-drug operation. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Kumar pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic fake pharmaceuticals. He admitted that between 2014 and 2018, he helped organize the shipment and sale of counterfeit cancer medicines across the United States. The sentence was issued by U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal in Houston, Texas. After completing his prison term, Kumar will also serve one year of supervised release. Investigators revealed that Kumar and his associates sold fake versions of Keytruda, a cancer immunotherapy drug used to treat diseases such as melanoma, lung cancer, and Hodgkin lymphoma.
The counterfeit medicines were designed to look like the real product and were shipped from India to the United States, generating around $89,000 in sales. Laboratory tests later showed that the drugs contained only fillers and harmful substances with no medical value, making them completely ineffective for treating cancer. The scheme was uncovered in 2024, when Kumar traveled to the U.S. to expand the operation and was arrested after selling fake drugs to undercover agents. During the investigation, Kumar reportedly admitted the medicines were fake and described them as “just like water.” Authorities have not confirmed whether any patients unknowingly received the counterfeit drugs.
