Colorado pharmacy board sues Denver restaurant for selling antibiotics

Meg Wingerter, The Denver Post on Aug 3, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

DENVER — The Colorado State Board of Pharmacy is suing a restaurant and bakery in Denver’s Gateway neighborhood for selling antibiotics without a license.

The lawsuit, filed July 9, alleges Panaderia y Taqueria Chihuas, 4810 Chambers Road, violated a cease-and-desist order the board issued in February. An unknown person filed a complaint in January alleging that the restaurant was selling antibiotics imported from Mexico.

An undercover investigator visited in February and purchased the anti-parasitic drug mebendazole, according to the lawsuit. He followed up in late March, after the cease-and-desist order, and found the restaurant was selling oxitetraciclina/polimixina B, a topical antibiotic used for eye infections.

A person answering the phone at Panaderia y Taqueria Chihuas hung up multiple times when a reporter called asking to talk to someone about the lawsuit.

Representatives from the State Board of Pharmacy declined an interview request.

Neither drug has any recreational use, and both are relatively easy to get with a prescription. A course of Emverm, the name-brand version of mebendazole, costs more than $4,000, while a tube of oxytetracycline/polymyxin b (the U.S.-branded version of the antibiotic) sells for about $30 per tube.

The lawsuit doesn’t state how much the restaurant charged for the medications.

Allegations of non-pharmacies selling prescription drugs are uncommon. The only comparable case in the last three years involved Los Nogales, a restaurant in Meeker, which allegedly dispensed antibiotics and non-narcotic cough medicines. The pharmacy board issued a cease-and-desist order, but didn’t file a lawsuit, in that case.

Since 2024, the board also issued cease-and-desist orders to two online pharmacies, one selling weight-loss drugs and the other human growth hormone; a veterinary hospital filling prescriptions for pets it hadn’t treated; an out-of-state pharmacy shipping to Colorado without a license; someone selling medications out of an Aurora residence; and the owner of a vending machine at Denver International Airport, for labeling it as “ShopAll Pharmacy” without a license.

----------------