Prophylaxis (medical center)

History

2024: Sales of psychotropic drugs

In mid-August 2024, it became known that a scheme of illegal trade in psychotropic drugs through a private medical clinic and pharmacy chains was opened in Moscow. As established by the investigating authorities, the Preventive Medical Center and related pharmacies have established the sale of potent substances, such as Lyrica and Xanax, which were illegally distributed under the guise of prescription drugs.

According to Izvestia, the owner and head physician of the clinic Vagan Sargsyan was in the center of the scheme. In October 2023, he acquired a pharmacy on 3rd Karacharovskaya Street, and in May 2024, a pharmacy on Beskudnikovsky Boulevard. Soon after the change of ownership in pharmacies, the number of buyers sharply increased, mainly coming for drugs that are popular with drug addicts. For example, in December 2023 alone, about 4 thousand packages of Lyrica were sold through one of the pharmacies.

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Freepik

As established by the investigation, the Prophylaxis clinic sold prescriptions for psychotropic drugs without medical indications and examinations. Customers could receive prescriptions for potent substances for a fee of ₽2,5 thousand to ₽4 thousand, after which they went to pharmacies also owned by Sargsyan. According to the investigation, in this way a closed system for the sale of psychotropic drugs was created.

In June 2024, the main defendants in the case were detained. In addition to Vagan Sargsyan, among the accused were his deputy Yvetta Shcherbakova, psychiatrist Mikhail Avsharov, director of one of the pharmacies Evgenia Morozova and her deputy Zelimkhan Dadaev. They are charged with providing services that do not meet security requirements, as well as illegal trafficking of potent substances on a large scale.

Investigative measures included searches in the homes of the accused and in pharmacies with the seizure of documentation confirming the sale of psychotropic drugs. Several tens of thousands of prescription forms were found that were used to sell psychotropic drugs. According to the investigation, only on the sale of recipes, the participants in the scheme could earn up to ₽1 million a day.^[1]

Notes