Superintendent Sanjeev Narendrabhai Patel, registration number 2045156, has been struck off the pharmacist register for falsifying prescriptions for expensive cancer drugs in short supply and selling them for a profit.

Mr Patel submitted 92 fake prescriptions over six months to GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for large quantities of Votrient 400mg and Tyverb 250mg, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) heard at a fitness-to-practise hearing on April 29.

A GP, who has been suspended by the GMC, signed Mr Patel's prescriptions between April and October 2011. Mr Patel, who was the superintendent for two pharmacies in east London, then placed a sticker over the name of the patient, giving the impression it was for confidentiality reasons.

Sanjeev Narendrabhai Patel, reg number 2045156, committed a "continuing fraud to obtain valuable drugs" and could have hindered their regular supply in the UK market, the GPhC said	More fitness-to-practise cases Sixth pharmacist suspended over BBC POMs exposé Pharmacist struck off for ‘shocking and frightening'       sexual assaults Pharmacist convicted of sexual assaults struck off MORE NEWS
	The drugs, which cost £1,121 for a course of 30 Votrient tablets and £804 for a course of 70 Tyverb tablets in the UK and are both in short supply, are supplied to advanced-cancer patients in hospital. GSK supplies a community pharmacy only after seeing a prescription, the panel heard.

The committee said it was unable to establish how much money Mr Patel made for his wholesale drug business by selling the drugs, which cost more in other European countries, but it was clear that he was manipulating the market for commercial gain.

When he was first questioned about the prescription forms he had submitted, Mr Patel claimed that they were valid prescriptions for patients in Africa. However, he subsequently admitted that was untrue and accepted his misconduct was "inappropriate, dishonest and misleading", the panel said.

The committee conceded that, from the testimonials it had heard, Mr Patel was a competent pharmacist who had built up an excellent business. He appeared to have understood the significance of what he did and posed no risk to the public and was "genuinely remorseful", it said.  

But the panel concluded that Mr Patel committed a "continuing fraud to obtain valuable drugs" in a way that might have interfered with the regular supply of the medication in the UK market and his "integrity cam longer be relied on". He would not have been able to commit this fraud if he had not been a pharmacist, it noted, as it ruled to strike Mr Patel off the register with immediate effect.

Read the full fitness-to-practise case here.