Stop dispensing prescriptions to Nevadans, state regulators tell pharmacy

An out-of-state pharmacy without a Nevada license has been told by the state’s pharmacy board to stop dispensing prescriptions, some for the active ingredient in Ozempic, to Nevada residents.

Nova Specialty Pharmacy was issued a cease and desist, a citation and a $655,000 fine after the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy said that it was operating without a Nevada license when it sold and dispensed more than 100 prescriptions from across state lines.

A spokesperson for the board confirmed that semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, an injectable drug designed to treat diabetes that many people are instead using to lose weight, was among the products sold and dispensed in Nevada by the pharmacy.

The pharmacy, which is based in Dallas according to its website and licensed in Texas, is not licensed in Nevada, records show.

The cease and desist, citation and fine was issued to Obiechina Ezekwesili, who Texas records show is the pharmacist in charge at Nova Specialty Pharmacy. The pharmacy is owned by Echo Health LLC.

Texas inspection records show that Nova Specialty Pharmacy was out of compliance with several regulations during its most recent listed inspection in March.

The majority of the violations were in regards to a section of Texas law that provides standards for compounding, or preparing, medications in a sterile environment.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, compounding is a practice where a licensed pharmacist combines or otherwise alters the ingredients of a drug to create a medication tailored to the needs of an individual patient. The FDA also said that semaglutide, Ozempic’s active ingredient, can be compounded when the drug is in shortage.

Inspection reports said that employees working in the compounding area of Nova Specialty Pharmacy failed to engage in proper hand hygiene, failed to apply a surgical scrub and were advised to remove debris from their fingernails.

Ezekwesili said in an email that “all the hand hygiene related unsatisfactory marks were due to the cleaning products not being visible to the inspector from outside the cleanroom, not because of the lack thereof.”

“We adhere to very strict standards and always strive to ensure quality products,” he said, adding that because the inspector could not see the cleaning products, “he couldn’t credit us for it.”

The report also said that the pharmacy failed to ensure it has the proper licensure for dispensing prescriptions in other states. According to the board, prescriptions were dispensed in Nevada at least 103 times.

The letter sent by the board to the pharmacy said that the pharmacy “failed to maintain quality standards for the compounded drugs that it dispensed to its Nevada-based patients,” and that failure to adhere to these standards “may result in patient harm.”

“We advise all Nevadans to exercise heightened caution when purchasing any compounded products including semaglutide,” said Dave Wuest, executive secretary for the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy, in a statement.

Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @estellelilym on X and @estelleatkinsonreports on Instagram.