Fentanyl: Ocaña reported links between the owner of HLB Pharma and Kirchnerism

The Buenos Aires legislator and national senate candidate, Graciela Ocaña, reported allegedlinks between Ariel García Furfaro, head of the HLB Pharma laboratory, and Kirchnerism leaders, in the context of the investigation into fentanyl-contaminated medications that may have caused nearly 100 deaths in the country.

In radio statements, she indicated that the case reveals serious irregularities in the pharmaceutical industry and a lack of response from the competent authorities.

"I've never seen medication adulteration with so many deaths and nothing happens," Ocaña stated during an interview with journalist Eduardo Feinmann on Radio Mitre.

The former Minister of Health maintained that García Furfarobegan his professional career as a merchant in a greengrocer's shop before entering the pharmaceutical sector in 2018, when he acquired a laboratory from the López Bernabó family. According to her, his relationship with Kirchnerism was consolidated through Salinas, partner at Laboratorios Ramallo, involved in cases related to the medication mafia and ephedrine trafficking.

Ocaña added that, in recent years, García Furfaro may have acted as "promoter and negotiator of Sputnik vaccines to Russia", and that he traveled to that country with officials from the Buenos Aires provincial government, Anmat authorities, then Deputy Minister of Health Carla Vizzotti and presidential advisor Cecilia Nicolini, to finalize supply agreements during the pandemic.

The legislator reviewed the growth of García Furfaro's business group, which came to control threelaboratories—Ramallo, HLB Pharma, and Apolo—and managed to position itself in state tenders with lower prices than the competition. However, she questioned that this cost policy may have impacted the quality of the medications: "The cost of the medications was lowered, but also at the expense of their quality".

In her presentation, Ocaña recalled that Apolo was involved in an explosion in Rosario in 2016, with a fatal outcome, and that HLB Pharma had previously been reported in 2023 for dexamethasone contamination with the same bacteria now detected in fentanyl.

Despite this, she pointed out that Anmat replied that the product"was within the admitted limits", when in that type of drug the permitted bacterial limit is zero.

Regarding the judicial progress of the case, Ocaña questioned that, four months after the case began, the technical managers of the laboratory have not been summoned for questioning. She also criticized the lack of measures to determine responsibilities and sanction those involved: "Here, evidently, all processes have been violated".

Finally, she warned about a network of businesspeople and leaders who, according to her statement, operate recurrently in the supply of medications to the State.

"There are many families who want an explanation, who want to know why there are no clear consequences and who the responsible parties are", she concluded.