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Judge Orders Raids on ANMAT, Seizes Chief’s Phone in Contaminated Fentanyl Case

Prosecutors are probing whether oversight failures by drug regulators enabled the contamination tied to at least 96 deaths.

Overview

  • Federal judge Ernesto Kreplak ordered operations at ANMAT’s headquarters, the INAME offices, and the homes of officials, seizing the phone of ANMAT head Nélida Agustina Bisio and devices from ex-INAME chief Gabriela Mantecón Fumadó, Ana Laura Canil, Mariela Baldut, and Maximiliano Lalín.
  • The court said the goal is to preserve documents and devices to evaluate potential state responsibility for the manufacture, distribution, and failed recovery of contaminated HLB fentanyl lots.
  • Prosecutor Laura Roteta is investigating whether repeated inefficiency at ANMAT/INAME amounted to negligence, connivance or complicity, drawing on a PIA review of 273 administrative files on HLB Pharma and Laboratorios Ramallo.
  • Inspection records show INAME flagged “critical and major” GMP deficiencies at Ramallo in late 2024, yet ANMAT did not immediately halt production or order a preventive recall of lots made afterward, decisions now under scrutiny.
  • Victims’ families accused Congress of delaying an investigative commission after Deputy Nicolás Mayoraz missed a key meeting, extending the process by at least 20 days, as genomic analyses link seized vials to patient infections and confirmed deaths near one hundred.