Missouri Revised Statutes Title XXII. Occupations and Professions § 338.353. Discipline of licensee, grounds--procedure--administrative hearing commission to conduct hearing

1. The board of pharmacy is hereby authorized and empowered, when complaints, examinations or inspection of a wholesale drug distributor or pharmacy distributor disclose to the board that a wholesale drug distributorship or pharmacy distributorship is not being operated or conducted according to such legal rules and regulations and the laws of Missouri or any other state or the federal government with respect thereto, to cause a complaint to be filed before the administrative hearing commission pursuant to chapter 621 charging the holder of a license to operate a drug distributorship or pharmacy wholesale operation constituting grounds for discipline in accordance with section 338.055.

2. If the board concludes that a wholesale drug distributor or pharmacy distributor has committed an act or is engaging in a course of conduct which constitutes a clear and present danger to the public health and safety in Missouri, the board may file a complaint before the administrative hearing commission requesting an expedited hearing and specifying the activities which give rise to the danger and the nature of the proposed restriction or suspension of the wholesale drug distributor's or pharmacy distributor's license. Within fifteen days after service of the complaint on a wholesale drug distributor or pharmacy distributor, the administrative hearing commission shall conduct a preliminary hearing to determine whether the alleged activities of the wholesale drug distributor or pharmacy distributor appear to constitute a clear and present danger to the public health and safety which justify that the wholesale drug distributor's or pharmacy distributor's license be immediately restricted or suspended. The burden of proving that a wholesale drug distributor or pharmacy distributor is a clear and present danger to the public health and safety shall be upon the state board of pharmacy. The administrative hearing commission shall issue its decision immediately after the hearing and shall either grant to the board the authority to suspend or restrict the license or dismiss the action.

3. If the administrative hearing commission grants temporary authority to the board to restrict or suspend the wholesale drug distributor's or pharmacy distributor's license, such temporary authority of the board shall become final authority if there is no request by the wholesale drug distributor or pharmacy distributor for a full hearing within thirty days of the preliminary hearing. The administrative hearing commission shall, if requested by the wholesale drug distributor or pharmacy distributor named in the complaint, set a date to hold a full hearing under the provisions of chapter 621 regarding the activities alleged in the initial complaint filed by the board.

4. If the administrative hearing commission dismisses the action filed by the board pursuant to subsection 2 of this section, such dismissal shall not bar the board from initiating a subsequent action on the same grounds.