Tri-Cities researcher made $5.6M from fake drug trials. Now he faces life in prison

A Tri-Cities medical researcher who received $5.6 million by faking and falsifying human drug trials could go to prison for the rest of his life.

Sami Anwar, 42, claimed he was helping to test drugs designed to treat different diseases and conditions, when really he was dumping study medications down the drain. Then, he lied about the drugs being injected into human patients, according to court records.

Anwar used his two Richland companies — Mid-Columbia Research and Zain Research — as a front for legitimate human clinical research trial sites.

Then, he “provided mountains of false clinical research trial data regarding drug safety and drug efficacy to dozens of drug companies and, through them, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),” U.S. Attorney William D. Hyslop said in a news release.

The studies covered everything from heart disease, diabetes and pediatric illnesses to adolescent smoking, cirrhosis and scabies.

Last week, Anwar was convicted of 47 felony counts after a three-week trial at the Richland federal courthouse.

The majority of his crimes are wire fraud and mail fraud, but also include conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, obtaining drugs through fraud and furnishing false information to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Mid-Columbia Research was convicted of the same 47 counts.

Zain Research was convicted of one count each of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. The business was acquitted of the other 45 counts.

Anwar did not testify.

He has been locked up since November 2018 after federal prosecutors argued he has a history of intimidating witnesses and former employees, is a danger to the public and has the resources and international connections to flee.

He will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service until his March 11 sentencing before Senior Judge Ed Shea.

The businessman faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each fraud count.

“Every day, Americans rely on the data from clinical research trials to keep us safe from deadly diseases and dangerous side effects,” Hyslop, who serves Eastern District of Washington, said in a written statement. “Injecting fraudulent and corrupt data into the system is an egregious breach of the trust and faith we all place in those who perform these vitally important trials.”

“Based on the evidence presented at trial, and the jury’s unanimous verdict, Mr. Anwar profited from his blatant disregard for patient safety by running his fraudulent enterprise through fear and intimidation,” he wrote.

Hyslop credited his attorneys, the DEA investigators and the FDA for its subject matter expertise, and said they will continue working to ensure that those who “abuse this trust and undermine our health care system are brought to justice.”

Anwar trained as a medical doctor in his native Pakistan but is not licensed here.

However, he would pose as a doctor and forge the signatures of doctors he hired, records show. Earlier this fall, the Washington state Department of Health ordered him to stop acting in a doctor’s capacity.

Federal prosecutors said at the trial that from 2013 to 2018, Anwar headed the conspiracy to have his companies fraudulently pose as legitimate study sites and returned false clinical research data, including safety data on dozens of different drugs and medicines.

The $5.6 million that Anwar and his North Columbia Center Boulevard companies received was from the fraud.

More than a dozen former employees testified that Anwar told them to help commit the fraud.

That included falsifying medical records and data to admit dozens of ineligible research subjects, falsifying research data like electrocardiograms and vital signs, and obtaining blood specimens from Anwar’s employees or stealing them from unwitting medical patients at the center.

The fraud also involved disposing of study medications and falsely recording them as having been dispensed as required, dangerously hoarding opioids intended for study subjects, and fabricating required subject diary entries, said prosecutors.

Prosecutors said Anwar “engaged in threats, retaliation and intimidation in order to hide his crimes from drug companies, the FDA which regulates human clinical trials in the United States, and law enforcement.”

He also reportedly stalked numerous former employees, threatened them at home and work, slashed tires and made false reports to police, the state Department of Health and the FDA, all in an attempt to prevent them from cooperating with authorities in the investigation against Anwar.

This story was originally published November 29, 2019 at 8:56 AM.