A Londonderry-based company pleaded guilty Aug. 30 in U.S. District Court in Concord to charges it was trafficking counterfeit drugs and bringing misbranded drugs into the U.S.

Vee Excel Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Inc., 15 Sutton Place, represented by company director Narendra Bansal, admitted that the corporation conspired with a counterpart company from India to ship counterfeit Cialis, a drug for treatment of erectile dysfunction, into the U.S. in packages mislabeled as chlorine.

In the course of the investigation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Cialis manufacturer Eli Lilly and Co. learned of a shipment of counterfeit Cialis tabs, was seized in Israel in October of 2004.

An undercover investigation was launched which implicated the Londonderry company and its Indian counterpart, which was shipping thousands of the counterfeit tablets to undercover agents in the U.S.

As part of the plea bargain, Vee Excel Drugs agreed to forfeit all money held in its bank account and pay $500,000 in fines following sentencing, scheduled for Nov. 29.

Source: Unionleader