Drug dilution claims in review

? Victims of an imprisoned ex-pharmacist’s dilutions of chemotherapy drugs are closer to receiving compensation as a federal judge reviews their claims.

Of 1,150 claims that were filed by the April 22 deadline against Robert R. Courtney, about 200 have been forwarded so far to U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert E. Larsen after being reviewed by court staff, a court official said.

Larsen must approve the claims before victims or surviving family members can receive equal shares of the estimated $11 million seized from Courtney’s assets as part of criminal proceedings against him. Checks will be issued only after all the claims have been reviewed, which is expected to take until sometime this fall.

Courtney is serving a 30-year sentence for diluting cancer drugs that he prepared and dispensed from his Research Medical Tower Pharmacy in Kansas City.

He pleaded guilty last year to adulterating 158 chemotherapy doses of the drugs Taxil and Gemzar for 34 patients from March 2001-June 2001. But he admitted in his plea agreement that he began diluting drugs in 1992, possibly affecting as many as 4,200 patients and 98,000 prescriptions.

U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith approved the claim and restitution process in February of this year, opting for a solution that would bring swift results for victims, and put Larsen in charge.

Paige Wymore-Wynn, chief deputy clerk of the court, said last week that the claims process was in its earliest stages and progressing slowly.

“The main thing is that we don’t want anyone to be left out,” Wymore-Wynn said. “Most people have been very patient, and we appreciate that. We’re just hoping that people stay patient while we complete this process.”