Not (yet) likely a full “Fall of the House of Usher” type story, but the suicide of the COO… seems… suspicious, given ACA’s mounting regulatory difficulties. [It also bothers me a bit that the outfit was — it seems — trying to trade on the “ACA” imprint, more widely known as the reputable American College of Apothecaries. Wholly unaffiliated with this “ACA” compounder, owned by the for-profit Rx Partners.]

ACA Pharmacy seems to have been… largely… out of control, in Music City. Mailing meds to wrong addresses; some of which were not the genuine med, at all. Here’s the story — a very worthwhile and sobering read, from The Wa Po, originally (but via our commenter, I’ve provided an non-paywalled version):

…The orders for custom weight-loss drugs flooded into ACA Pharmacy in Nashville, where white bins holding prescriptions were stacked as tall as the staffers filling them.

Over several months in 2023, ACA produced tens of thousands of its own variety of prescription weight-loss medications. A FedEx truck arrived regularly to ship the chilled boxes across the nation. Wall-mounted TV monitors inside the specialized pharmacy displayed its rising monthly revenue. Then, in late July, it all came crashing down….

Ned Ashley, chief executive of ACA’s parent company, Rx Partners, said in a statement that closing ACA was a “nuanced and multifaceted” decision, adding that the death of its chief operating officer “played a large part.” The death was a suicide, according to public records.

Ashley said questions submitted by The Post about ACA’s finances, operations and regulatory problems contained “various inaccuracies” but declined to elaborate. ACA has no record of receiving any reports of serious patient harm linked to its compounded weight-loss medications, he said, adding that he has no knowledge of employees using the pharmacy’s drugs without a prescription….

“It’s apparent they were having issues maintaining sterility,” said Dan Troy, a former FDA chief counsel who’s now a managing director at Berkeley Research Group who reviewed the disciplinary order….

The biggest concern though, I think (as I’ve said before here), is how little we really know about the long term side effects of even genuine dosings of semaglutide, coupling the use of a serious diabetes med — to “achieve” simple weight loss — for perhaps a life long dosing protocol… seems like… this isn’t likely to end well.

नमस्ते