Martina Jaureguy The senior management team of the pharmaceutical company and laboratory that produced the contaminated medical-use fentanyl that has killed at least 96 people was arrested on Wednesday night on charges of quality deviation, and suspicions some of the product was sold on the black market.
On Wednesday, La Plata Federal Judge Ernesto Kreplak ordered the arrest of 10 people, who will also be called to testify. This includes executives and technical leads of the Laboratorios Ramallo laboratory, which produced the fentanyl, and HLB Pharma, which distributed it.
The case began in May after food and drug regulator ANMAT filed a criminal complaint and ordered a halt to the use and distribution of two batches of medical-use fentanyl. The regulator’s alert came after a private clinic in La Plata reported an outbreak of unusual in-hospital infections and deaths, which were traced back to the use of those batches of the synthetic opioid in the affected patients.
The fentanyl was found to be contaminated with bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae and Ralstonia picketti. This was confirmed in a recent forensic medical report, which stated that the use of the contaminated fentanyl played a significant role in the deaths of 96 patients. The judiciary is still investigating the full extent of the harm caused.
Among those arrested are Ariel García Furfaro, owner of HLB Pharma and Laboratorios Ramallo, as well as his brothers, Damián and Diego. The three reportedly run the companies, although their current roles at the companies are unclear. Their mother Nilda Furfaro, vice president of HLB Pharma, was also arrested.
An April 2020 document released in Argentina’s Official Gazette stated that the president of HLB Pharma at that time was Olga Luisa Arena, identified by Argentine media as the García brothers’ grandmother. However, she was not arrested nor asked to testify, the Herald learned from a source close to the investigation.
That 2020 document also mentioned Nilda Furfaro in her role as vice president, and said Damián García Furfaro was director of the company while Ariel García Furfaro was the “substitute trustee.”
The other detainees are Javier Tchukran (reportedly general director of both companies) technical directors José Antonio Maiorano, Carolina Ansaldi and Víctor Boccaccio, and shareholders Horacio Antonio Tallarico and Rodolfo Antonio Labrusciano.
“Those responsible for the contaminated fentanyl deaths no longer walk freely,” said Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, showing pictures of some of the detainees. They were arrested by the military police and airport security police. “Impunity is over: now they will have to give answers to the judiciary, the families, and all of society,” Bullrich added.
“This is a dramatic, serious case that demands action that is prompt, but also rigorous and professional,” said La Plata prosecutor María Laura Roteta in the document in which she asked Kreplak to order the arrests. She added that the scope of the outbreak is yet to be determined.
National prosecutor Sergio Rodríguez also filed a request demanding an investigation into the public offices in charge of carrying out controls in laboratories.
On Thursday, the Health Ministry temporarily removed Gabriela Mantecón Fumado from her role as head of the National Medicine Institute, which falls under the purview of the ANMAT.
In June, HLB Pharma published a statement on their website saying that they were cooperating with the judiciary and carrying out internal and external checks and monitoring. They claimed to “rigorously comply” with quality protocols and said their commitment to public health had been “absolute.”
“Sadly, in the pharmaceutical sector there are unscrupulous competitors who have distorted the results of reports and studies to gain economically from the situation,” the statement said.
