3 South Jersey Doctors Stripped of CDS Registrations

Three South Jersey doctors who were convicted of illegally selling addictive painkiller prescriptions will never again be able to prescribe those drugs, even if their medical licenses are restored, Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman and Consumer Affairs Director Eric T. Kanefsky announced Monday.

Pankaj Agrawal, who practiced in Pennsauken, Robert H. Moss, who practiced in Williamstown, and Pravin Vasoya, who practiced in Sewell, were among five doctors who had their controlled dangerous substance (CDS) registrations permanently revoked in the state, which comes after all three were sentenced to federal prison for various offenses.

Hoffman called it the latest step in trying to combat the problem of prescription drug abuse, noting that the revocations add an extra layer of security, should the men ever return to work as physicians.

“Doctors who make the decision to sell CDS prescriptions are a disgrace their profession and their violated oath to do no harm,” Hoffman said. “New Jersey is fighting back against prescribers who contribute to America’s drug epidemic and working to protect the public should they ever again be reinstated to practice medicine in our state.”

All three South Jersey doctors were convicted in the last four years and had their medical licenses revoked in the state; Agrawal, 66, and Moss, 45, are both still in federal prison, with release dates in April 2014 and September 2016, respectively. Vayosa, 46, was released in May of this year.

Agrawal, who pleaded guilty to charges in 2009, admitted to selling prescriptions for Percocet and promethazine cough syrup with codeine over a three-year period. He sold as many as 6,000 doses to one person, according to court documents, and used a McDonald’s parking lot to trade prescriptions for cash.

Moss, a podiatrist, prescribed oxycodone without a legitimate medical purpose over an 18-month period in 2008 and 2009, and pleaded guilty to charges in 2011.

Vasoya sold prescriptions to an undercover officer in the parking lot of a Turnersville Pep Boys and a Mount Laurel Target, according to court documents, trading oxycontin and roxicodone prescriptions for $8,000 in cash, and was convicted in 2009.

All three men could apply to have both their medical licenses and CDS registrations reinstated, Hoffman said, but would have to prove why those reinstatements would serve the public's interest.