Franklin Pharmacy Suspending Its Compounding Operation in Russellville: It Employed Close ot 200 People

Closing of compounding center to affect many

Published 6:00am Saturday, August 18, 2012

When the state unemployment numbers were released Friday, Franklin County’s jobless claims for July held steady at 9.7 percent, just slightly above the 9.6 percent reported in June.
The county’s July rate represents 1,315 individuals, but that number is certain to rise on the heels of Thursday’s announcement that Franklin Pharmacy would be suspending its compounding operation in Russellville.
Though company officials have not commented publicly, several employees of the pharmacy confirmed Friday that they were sent home Thursday and told that the compounding operation would be closed. Close to 200 people were employed there and it is uncertain how many will remain.
The announcement was made one week after federal and state agencies raided Franklin Pharmacy and two others, Russellville Pharmacy and Sheffield Pharmacy.
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More Information on Ownership and Entity Status of Alabama Compounding Pharmacies Searched by FBI

Shoalanda Speaks blog is reporting more information this morning regarding the ownership and entity status of the compounding pharmacies raided in Alabama.  That article can be found here  and is quoted below:

Initial reports from the FBI on Wednesday identified one of two raided Franklin County pharmacies as Franklin County Pharmacy. Within two hours, the press release had been changed to Franklin Health-Mart Pharmacy. Today a spokesman from Franklin Pharmacy has addressed charges of insurance fraud; we now infer this to be the correct name of the third business raided.

Timothy A. Aaron, owner of Franklin Pharmacy, has previously worked at Sheffield Pharmacy (one of the other two raided) and the Drug Shop in Russellville. He's now listed as licensed in Franklin County only. According to their ads, the pharmacy specializes in a product dubbed Optimal Pain Control, or OPC. Established in 2010, the business operates from a steel frame building just off Hwy. 43 north of downtown Russellville.

The drug store is listed as an LLC; however, it appears to be operating under an umbrella corporation. The pharmacy's principal income is produced via sales of OPC. One source reported to us that its gross receipts from this pain formula last year were 250K. A few other sources that we could not verify have placed the figure much, much higher. Apparently the majority of this revenue is generated through online sales.

One reader reported Russellville Pharmacy still closed this morning, while a second reported it was open at some point. Hopefully any problems with accounting won't affect the day to day operation of these businesses. Employees, including associate pharmacists, have no control over the business practices of their employers. There are reportedly over 300 employees of these three pharmacies, all we assume doing the jobs for which they were hired. Let's remember that.