Canada, Feb 24 - One of Canada's Internet pharmacy pioneers has lost his credentials to practise in Manitoba after a three-year probe into allegations he sold counterfeit prescription drugs to Americans.

Andrew Strempler, founder of the Minnedosa-based Mediplan Prescription Plus Pharmacy, agreed to strike his name from the provincial pharmacist registry at a discipline hearing last October. The outcome of the fall hearing has only recently been posted on the Manitoba Pharmaceutical Association website.

Experts say it's the most severe penalty that can be handed to a pharmacist and prevents Strempler from renewing his licence to practise in Manitoba.

The fallout comes nearly four years after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration first warned consumers that drugs from Strempler's Manitoba-based firm were unsafe. In August 2006, the FDA said preliminary lab tests of intercepted shipments found counterfeits of widely prescribed drugs such as Lipitor and Celebrex.

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