Overview
- An international investigation reports that Merck’s forensics team found irregularities in Keytruda samples from an ISSSTE hospital in Mérida and shared the results with Mexico’s health regulator and federal prosecutors.
- Cofepris has identified multiple falsified Keytruda lots, including X003479 and Y011745, and data compiled by ICIJ partners show at least 11,479 pieces from flagged lots entered inventories at 10 public institutions, with most recorded at ISSSTE.
- Francisco Chávez, a patient treated at Mérida’s Elvia Carrillo Puerto hospital, received doses from those lots and reported severe tremors, paralysis, and dangerous blood sugar spikes after an infusion.
- Top Pharma was tied to a suspicious vial detected at the Navy Medical Center in 2021, was later fined, and still secured dozens of government contracts worth about 42.8 million pesos through 2025, according to public records.
- Police in New Delhi arrested suspects linked to adulterated oncology medicines, recovered 519 empty vials and cash, and Merck’s testing found many seized samples lacked the active ingredient, underscoring how high prices and shortages draw criminal networks into this market.