$70M in Prescription Drugs Stolen in Conn. Heist

[steven johnson]

Source: Associated Press

ENFIELD, Conn. (AP) -- Authorities say prescription drugs worth tens of millions of dollars have been stolen in a brazen, well-planned heist at a pharmaceutical company warehouse in Connecticut.

The FBI has been called in to investigate the theft early Sunday at the Eli Lilly warehouse in Enfield, a northern Connecticut city that borders Massachusetts.

The exact number and type of drugs were still being established Tuesday, but a spokesman for Eli Lilly says they were worth $70 million. He says no narcotics or painkillers were taken.

Enfield Police Chief Carl Sferrazza (Sfur-AH'-zah) says the thieves cut a hole in the building's ceiling and rappelled inside, disabling the security system and loading pallets of drugs into a waiting vehicle.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/16/us/AP-US-Prescription-Drugs-Heist.html?_r=1&ref=us

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. $10M street value in Canada.

[Soylent Brice]

16. LMAO

:rofl:

no shit.

[joeybee12]

2. With the high cost of prescription drugs, this is probably only

two-month supply for about 3 or four seniors.

[hayu_lol]

3. Hmmmm...they don't know how much or what was taken...

but the loss is 70 million. Amazing.

[icnorth]

6. They just measured the vacant square footage

and multiplied it by a million.

[jmowreader]

7. In a pharmaceutical company? They know, they're just not saying

With the amount of control the FDA requires over pharmaceuticals, they probably "knew" before the robbery was over how much of what was missing. The FDA has required RFID tracking on pharmaceuticals at distribution center level since 2007. Worse: some drug companies are playing with putting RFID tags in the pills themselves. There would be some privacy issues with doing it but therapeutically it would be a godsend. How many dosing errors do they have in hospitals? And how many people are injured by it? With RFID in all pills, the pharmacy can scan each order before it goes out to ensure it complies with the doctor's order, and the nurse can scan it again as a double check before giving the cup to the patient. The hospital can input recalled-lot information to their computer, which would be sure Grandpa didn't get any of that batch of pills that has drain cleaner in it.

But yeah, they knew what's missing real early in the process.

[LeftHander]

14. 259K wholesale....nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. Old insurance trick, don't ya know.

"Yep, I lost 70 million dollars worth".

[jmowreader]

4. Does Lilly actually MAKE narcotics or painkillers, is the thing

I've got Lilly's drug portfolio on my second monitor; they seem real big on diabetes drugs, specifically insulin; they've got some cancer and cardiology drugs...they make Cialis and five happy pills: Cymbalta, Prozac, Strattera, Symbyax and Zyprexa. (Symbyax is a combination of Zyprexa and Prozac.) Unless they make a lot of generic stuff, they're not producing drugs of abuse.

This is the thing: these guys don't make good street drugs. I can't imagine someone who wanted to get fucked up on pills would want to drop a Strattera, which is a selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor rather than a stimulant. So what's their angle? Call me naive but I can't see the trade in blackmarket insulin being that large.

[Warpy]

5. You'd be surprised

Some guy in a suit goes to an indie pharmacy and his "company" will undercut the usual suppliers. Of course the pharmy is going to go with a cheaper supplier. That's where these drugs will end up.

Drugs of abuse aren't the only ones being diverted. This theft made news only because they were greedy. Usually it's only a few cases here and there, not a truckload.

[melm00se]

8. using SPAM as a measurement

there is a huge underground/sideways market on Cialis acquiring a significant number of pills could lead to a significant cash windfall.

[jmowreader]

10. You'd need a serious truck to haul $70 million worth of it, though

I have the first link you get when you google "cheap cialis" up now...10 pills of 10mg Cialis is $22.60. If you've got a dick that absolutely will not respond to reason, the 200mg pill will cost you $54.50 for 10. Even at street value you're looking at needing way over a million tablets to come up to $70 million.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

12. Big black market even for non-schedule drugs.

[Daemonaquila]

13. You'd be surprised.

I've been a disability attorney for a number of years now, and have seen all kinds of ways that people get their meds. There's a huge street market, and it's not just in happy pills.

However, there are high-dollar street drugs in that portfolio. You're overlooking Humatrope, which is a growth hormone abused by bodybuilders - if that was the target, the thieves will make a boatload of money. Cialis is, of course, ever popular on the black market.

[Jennicut]

15. Interesting. My Humalog insulin comes from Lilly, looking on the back of the box. And I live in CT.

There is a huge, huge need for people to get their insulin some way. It is literally a life and death medicine. I would die without it. The Humalong is the short acting, before meals type. I buy it, with insurance, for $25 a month. The other insulin I take is Lantus, which is up to $40 a month. Plus, test strips are $40. Metformin, for type 2 diabetes, adds another $25, though I stopped taking it when I discovered I was actually a Type 1. Lipitor to treat high cholesterol (stroke risk in a diabetic is higher then normal people) is $25. And I was told to take it even though I am only 34. See how expensive it gets? Plus lancets to prick your self with to test the blood, needles, etc. So cheap insulin could attract people and diabetes is on the rise. Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics can both use insulin.

[jmowreader]

19. Storage is the reason I don't think they stole $70 million worth of insulin

Let's do some math...diabeticexpress,com sells Humalog Mix 50/50 10ml vials for $115.17 each. If it's like any other injectable it comes in a box of 12, and said box costs $1382. They probably come in a master case of 24 boxes, so to make it come out even we'll say they took 2160 master cases, or 18 full skids each containing 120 master cases. This stuff can't be out of cold storage long; they'd either have to be working with someone who could store 18 skids of insulin (which means someone with a very large walk-in cooler; 18 skids will fill a 53-foot trailer) or they'd have to either lease or buy a refrigerated trailer.

I'm betting on it being some combination of pills, and most of it being Cialis.

Having said this, I googled and found http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100316/ap_on_bi_ge/us_prescription_drugs_heist, which confirms it's pills--Prozac, Cymbalta and Zyprexa. Strangely enough, no Cialis.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

21. "... five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce?"

"The cuckoo clock."

[Bluenorthwest]

9. 70 million in prescrptions in America

probably fit in a shoebox.

[icnorth]

11. A shoebox? Now look at what you've done...

questioned my estimation up thread by a factor of 70. :D

[Mopar151]

17. And there would be a serious overseas market

In Russia & old USSR countries, and parts of Asia. These are name brand, high quality, state of the art drugs, and would be worth at least US wholesale to a rich man's doctor(s)

[eilen]

20. Major overseas market in the Middle East.

In one hospital I worked in a woman was discovered to be sneaking out OR equipment and selling it to a black market operation that was sending it to the Middle East-- not sure which country.

[Poll_Blind]

22. There was a Bestbuy robbery like this just a few weeks ago- people thought it was a dry run for....

...something bigger because the extremely well-planned-out robbery only netted a few thousand dollars worth of mac books.

I wonder if the same folks were involved and this was their "big" job.

If anyone wants to search it up, it was discussed on DU, I think it took place in New Jersey, the thieves rappelled (sp?) down, took the items and zipped up back into the ceiling, Mission Impossible style.

PB