A doctor charged in the drug-related death of actor Matthew Perry has pleaded guilty in the case.

Dr. Mark Chavez changed his guilty plea in a Los Angeles court to a charge of conspiracy to distribute the surgical anesthetic ketamine.

Chavez, 54, ran a ketamine clinic and sold ketamine lozenges to Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who delivered them to Perry, star of the NBC sitcom Friends.

In his plea agreement, Chavez admitted that he obtained ketamine from both his previous clinic and a wholesaler through a fraudulent prescription, records show.

Chavez is one of five people charged in Perry’s death. The 54-year-old actor was found dead in his backyard hot tub in Southern California in October 2023.

A post-mortem revealed high levels of the drug ketamine in his blood and determined the substance’s “acute effects” had killed him.

Ketamine is an anesthetic used to treat depression, anxiety, and pain. It is 50 times more potent than heroin.

Prosecutors said Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, worked with the two doctors to administer more than $50,000 (£38,000) of ketamine to the actor in the weeks before his death.

According to the indictment, the two doctors exchanged text messages in which they discussed how much they could charge Perry for vials of the drug. One message said: “I wonder how much this idiot will pay.”

The plea deal allows Chavez to plead guilty to a lesser charge related to his cooperation in the investigation, although he still faces up to 10 years in prison.

“He took responsibility. He is cooperating,” his lawyer said in court.

Chavez has handed over his passport and agreed to immediately surrender his medical license.

He is free on bail until the verdict is announced on April 2, 2025.