The owner of Miami-based AMB Research Center, a clinic that conducted clinical trials for new drugs, and a pharmacy technician also employed by it, have both been convicted and sentenced to a combined 117 months — nearly 10 years — in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
An investigation into the matter revealed that clinic owner and CEO Miguel Angel Montalvo Villa and pharmacy technician Ivette Maria Portela Martinez falsified, "at a minimum, hundreds of pages of documents and entered that information and data into the clinical trial's electronic databases to make it appear as though the purported clinical trial subjects were fully participating in the clinical trial," according to the Nov. 30 news release.
The two then submitted fraudulent invoices for a total of $277,920.
Mr. Montalvo Villa was sentenced to 71 months in prison and Ms. Portela Martinez to 46 months.
The FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations' Miami Field Office led the investigation.