UCLA pharmacy accused of having expired medications

WESTWOOD, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The UCLA Health system the subject of a California Board of Pharmacy investigation after the board said it found it was mixing in expired medications with other drugs.

State pharmacy officials conducted a review of an internal UCLA compounding pharmacy last October and found it had violated five regulations affecting more than 1,200 doses of medication.

According to the complaint from the board, UCLA's in-house pharmacy illegally pre-mixed medications to be used in surgeries and treating people with serious health issues.

The complaint says UCLA is only licensed to compound the medications for use within three days, but had instead been stockpiling and storing them for months.

The board said it also found that UCLA was mislabeling the expired drugs.

UCLA officials wouldn't talk on-camera with Eyewitness News, but in a written statement, they said there is no evidence any of the drugs in question were actually administered to patients. They added that the medications in question were promptly destroyed.

UCLA shuttered its in-house pharmacy shortly after the state discovered the improprieties.

The California State Board of Pharmacy has requested a hearing. Meantime, UCLA faces the possibility of losing its permit to operate a compounding pharmacy.