Texas Pharmacist Pleads Guilty in Wide-Ranging Compound Drugs Kickback Scheme
Pharr Family Pharmacy, owned by John Aguedo Rodriguez, who pleaded guilty to a compounded drug scheme, has been permanently closed as of Jan. 2025. Photo credit: Google Street View.
Rodriguez is a licensed pharmacist who owns Pharr Family Pharmacy, a compound and retail pharmacy in Pharr, Texas, according to the DOJ press release. Pharr Family Pharmacy conducted business in and around Texas under several names, including Custom Prescription Innovations and United Mix.
Between 2014 and 2016, Rodriguez billed the health benefits programs for more than $110 million and paid over $24 million in kickbacks, according to the DOJ press release. Rodriguez pleaded guilty and has a sentencing scheduled for March 25. He faces up to five in federal prison for his crimes.
Compounded Drugs
Rodriguez’s pharmacy business specializes in compounded drugs, which are a mix of two or more individual prescription drugs, according to the indictment. The United States Food and Drug Administration does not approve compounded drugs, so pharmacies must have a special license to make them.
Doctors may prescribe a prescription for a compounded drug if the FDA-approved drugs do not meet the medical needs of the patient or if the patient is allergic to the FDA-approved drug, according to the Indictment. Because compounded drugs are often custom-made for the patient, they are usually more expensive, and the pharmacy can charge the patient or insurance company more for the drug.
Exploited Relationships with Marketers
As a part of his plea, Rodriguez admitted that he utilized his relationships with various marketers who, in turn, had connections with clinics and physicians, according to the indictment.
Rodriguez enrolled his pharmacy in several healthcare benefits, allowing the Pharr Family Pharmacy to receive payment for prescription claims, according to the indictment. Rodriguez recruited marketers to help target the programs with the highest reimbursements for the compounded drugs, which included pain patches, scar creams, pain creams and vitamins.
Rodriguez gave the marketers pre-filled prescription drug pads that already had specific compounded drugs and other items marked that would yield the most significant return from the health benefits program, according to the indictment.
Rodriguez conspired with Mahannad Imtiaz Chowdhury, who worked with his father, Tajul Shams Chowdhury, to order compounded prescriptions, according to the superseding indictment. Tajul Chowdhury is a physician who would prescribe patients compound drugs and other expensive prescriptions for the patients to fill at Pharr Family Pharmacy even if the patient didn’t want or need them.
Kickbacks and False Claims
Mohammad Chowdhury paid kickbacks to his father in return for the prescription referrals, as well as payments to employees at Tajul Chowdhury’s medical clinic, according to the superseding indictment.
Under Rodriguez’s direction, employees at Pharr Family Pharmacy submitted false claims to healthcare benefit programs to find the compounded medications with the most extensive reimbursement returns, according to the superseding indictment.
Rodriguez ordered his staff to bill the healthcare benefits programs for the highest reimbursing drugs despite what the physician’s prescription said. They even forged patient signatures on drug prescriptions that the patient did not receive.
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