Hoover Man Who Made Phony Cancer Drugs Sentenced To Prison

BIRMINGHAM, AL — A Hoover man who pleaded guilty to making suppositories in his home and falsely marketing them as cancer medication has been sentenced to more than two years in federal prison.

Patrick Charles Bishop was sentenced by Judge Karen O. Bowdre to 30 months in prison followed by three years supervised release for conspiracy to fraudulently introduce adulterated drugs and mis-branded drugs into interstate commerce.

Bowdre also ordered Bishop to forfeit $900,000 in proceeds from his crimes.

According to the plea agreement, Bishop ran a business that made, marketed, sold and distributed products purportedly containing a peptide called PNC-27, and purportedly effective in treating cancer. During 2015 and 2016, Bishop received millions of dollars from sales of PNC-27 products.

PNC-27 has not been approved by the FDA for use in the United States as a drug to treat any disease, including cancer; nor has PNC-27 undergone clinical trials in the United States. Bishop took steps to conceal these activities from the FDA and others, court records show.

Bishop used the business name Best Peptide Supply, LLC, to buy PNC-27 from a Chinese supplier, and a different business name, Immuno Cellular Restoration Program, Inc., to sell PNC-27 products to others. He described his distribution of PNC-27 products as part of a research effort and promoted himself as a research director. Bishop had no formal training or education in medicine or the treatment of diseases.

Bishop repeatedly assured his Chinese supplier that he would use the peptide solely for laboratory research purposes, but admitted in court he used the peptide to make homemade suppositories in his kitchen in Birmingham, and at a warehouse he rented in Pelham, and then marketed and sold those products as a cancer treatment. The kitchen and warehouse were not sterile and the process of making the suppositories did not comply with current good manufacturing practices.

“The defendant posed a dangerous threat to patients who thought they were receiving an approved and effective treatment for cancer,” U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona said. “My office will continue to prosecute those who deceive the public by selling unapproved drug products.”