CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Wyoming State Board of Pharmacy suspended a Cheyenne pharmacy’s license following its investigation Wednesday. Now, the facility has filed a petition to get its license back.
At a public meeting Sept. 12, the Wyoming State Board of Pharmacy prevented City Drug of Cheyenne from filling any prescriptions. The business has until Oct. 10 to finalize any outstanding business or transfer prescriptions. As of Thursday morning, though, City Drug pharmacist and owner Kelsey James has filed a petition with the Laramie County District Court contesting the state board’s decision to suspend her license. The petition argues that the board’s decision isn’t supported by substantial evidence.
Discussions about City Drug started earlier this month when an investigator with the Wyoming State Board of Pharmacy alleged that the business had created a medication and dispersed it to a patient with false prescription labels. Since March, City Drug has been under a board order not to compound any medications.
The conversation came to a head Wednesday during the board’s monthly meeting, as dozens of community members showed up to express support for the local pharmacy, per a report from the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. The meeting was paused and resumed Thursday morning after Wyoming State Troopers escorted a woman out of the meeting for repeated disruptions, according to a news release from the Wyoming Highway Patrol. No public comment was held at the meeting.
The court filing
City Drug of Cheyenne filed an amended petition for judicial review Sept. 19. The petition claims that the board’s decision to suspend the pharmacy’s resident retail license was arbitrary, wasn’t supported by substantial evidence and wasn’t justified.
The petitioners also noted inconsistencies in the board’s decision. Since March 18, City Drug has been under order from the Wyoming Board of Pharmacy not to compound any sterile and non-sterile drugs. However, the board allowed the Cheyenne business to continue filling prescriptions for two additional weeks after declaring the suspension. The legal team contends that this undermines the board’s claim that immediate action was necessary to protect public health.
With the amended petition filed in Laramie County District Court, City Drug seeks to overturn the board’s suspension. The petitioners argue that the board’s actions were “arbitrary and capricious” and constitute an abuse of discretion.
City Drug is being represented by attorneys Thomas W. Rumpke and Carl A. Edelman of Williams, Porter, Day & Neville P.C.
Background
On Sept. 12, the State Board of Pharmacy held a special public meeting to discuss possible suspension of the Cheyenne business’s operations. Kelsey James and a City Drug employee testified during the hearing alongside Rumpke.
Senior investigator for the board Liz Wood said she received an email Sept. 6 from a Wheatland pharmacist that included a photo of a suspicious medication bottle, according to the meeting minutes. City Drug had been sending compounding requests to the Wheatland pharmacy because the Cheyenne facility had been under an order from the pharmacy board to cease any compounding. However, the Wheatland pharmacist told Wood that any record of the prescription didn’t exist in their system. In addition, the pharmacy didn’t have the ingredients to compound the medication.
Wood found that the label on the prescription vial was visibly different from other labels issued by the Wheatland business, per the meeting notes. Additionally, the patient told the investigator that City Drug had mailed them the medication. Wood also presented other findings that led her to believe City Drug prepared the medication.
At the meeting, Kelsey James and a City Drug employee both testified that they had not, nor had they observed anyone else, prepare the medication in question. Rumpke told the board that James and her team don’t know where the medication came from and that City Drug didn’t create it.
Wyoming Senior Assistant Attorneys General Brian Marvel was present for the hearing and concluded that City Drug compounded the medication. He argued that falsifying a medication label signified a sufficient threat to public safety and warranted revoking the pharmacy’s license.
Five members of the pharmacy board voted to strip City Drug of its license, while one member was absent and two recused themselves. The board then determined that the Cheyenne pharmacy would have two weeks to continue filling prescriptions for hospice patients until Sept. 26. The board enforced the suspension to take full effect Oct. 10.
Cap City News reporter Jared Gendron contributed to this report.
