Feds charge weight-loss clinic operator in Pittsburgh area with giving customers cow drugs

A woman who ran two weight loss clinics in the Pittsburgh area is charged in federal court with mislabeling animal medication and giving it to humans.

Nicole Millen is charged with a single misdemeanor count of drug mislabeling.

A federal court docket sheet shows she is scheduled to plead guilty on Nov. 18 before U.S. District Judge W. Scott Hardy.

According to authorities, Millen operated clinics at Renu Medical and Weight Loss in Scott and Choice Restorative Medicine on McKnight Road.

A message left at Choice late Wednesday was not immediately returned. A number for Renu, on Swallow Hill Road, was disconnected.

Millen’s attorney declined to comment.

According to federal prosecutors, veterinary prescription drugs must be dispensed through a licensed veterinarian. Millen was not a licensed veterinarian, doctor, nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant, authorities said.

Still, they alleged, she met with customers for an initial consultation and devised weight-loss programs for them.

The programs, prosecutors said, typically included dispensing and administering Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, or HCG, bought from an Illiniois retailer.

But the drug Millen provided to customers, prosecutors said, was not meant for humans.

Instead, they alleged, it was Chorulon, a veterinary medicine containing Human Chorionic Gonadotropin that is used in cows frequently in heat due to cystic ovaries.

“While it contained the same active ingredient as certain FDA-approved prescription drugs for humans, Chorulon was never approved for humans and its labeling, when purchased from a licensed distributor, said, ‘For animal use only’ and ‘Federal law restricts this drug to use by or on the order of a licensed veterinarian.”

The formulation for Chorulon was different from the FDA-approved drug for humans containing HCG, prosecutors said.

Millen and clinic employees acting at her direction drew the Chorulon into unlabeled syringes, diluted it and provided it to customers, according to authorities.

Millen “referred to the Chorulon as ‘HCG’ and never told her customers that the drug she was providing them was for animal use only, and was not approved for use in humans,” court paperwork said.