The founder of the Maryland Heights pharmaceutical company pleads guilty to federal drug charges

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – The founder and CEO of a multimillion-dollar pharmaceutical wholesale company based in Maryland Heights has pleaded guilty to illegally distributing controlled substances.

EMED Medical Company founder Eric Bailey of St. Louis pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri to one count of possession with intent to distribute hydrocodone and oxycodone.

If convicted, Bailey faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The date for the hearing has not yet been set. As part of his guilty plea, he also agreed to forfeit more than $2.16 million.

Federal prosecutors said in charging documents that Bailey sold the pain-killing drugs over several years to independent pharmacies in the Houston area that he knew were distributing the drugs outside of usual practice and without proper controls.

From 2015 to 2021, Bailey sold more than 10 million hydrocodone pills and 1 million oxycodone pills to Houston-area pharmacies. The street value of these drugs was at least $130 million, according to federal prosecutors.

In 2021, one of the drug manufacturers that supplies EMED Medical threatened to stop selling to the company, citing publicity surrounding arrests involving the pharmacies that Bailey supplies. According to charging documents, these companies sold pills on the black market.

Bailey bought the drugs the next year from another manufacturer and sold them to pharmacies that he knew would distribute them without legitimate medical purposes, federal prosecutors said.

Founded by Adams in 1999, EMED Medical specializes in pharmaceutical distribution, specialty pharmacy services and medical supply distribution, according to its website.

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