New England Compounding Center

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Pharmacist Linked to Meningitis Outbreak Busted

Airport arrest first bust in case that caused 64 deaths

(Newser) - A pharmacist linked to a meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people in 2012 was arrested yesterday as he tried to leave the country. Glenn Adam Chin oversaw the mold and bacteria-infested "clean rooms" at the New England Compounding Center, and investigators accuse him of covering up unsafe practices, the...

Pharmacy Behind Meningitis Outbreak to Pay $100M

New England Compounding Center to set up fund for victim compensation

(Newser) - The pharmacy most prominently linked to last year's national meningitis outbreak has reached a preliminary agreement on a settlement that would require it to create a $100 million victim compensation fund, attorneys for the company's creditors announced today. The Massachusetts-based New England Compounding Center has already given up...

Pharmacy Chief in Meningitis Outbreak Takes the Fifth

Barry Cadden sheds no light on what happened

(Newser) - The co-owner and chief pharmacist of the company linked to the meningitis outbreak arrived on Capitol Hill today for a grilling armed with lawyers and an index card. And when House lawmakers asked Barry Cadden of the New England Compounding Center things like what happened or what he might say...

FDA: Ameridose Is Rife With Contamination Issues

Bugs, leaks found inside drug firm linked to outbreak

(Newser) - The FDA's monthlong inspection of Ameridose, a firm with the same founders as the pharmacy linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak, has produced a long and troubling list of contamination issues, the AP reports. Inside the company's drug-making facility, federal inspectors found leaky, cracked walls and ceilings, insects...

Mass. Pharmacy Chief Fired Over Meningitis

He ignored complaint that it was selling drugs illegally

(Newser) - Massachusetts has fired the director of its Board of Pharmacy for failing to follow up on a complaint against the New England Compounding Center—the facility behind the recent meningitis outbreak. Colorado's pharmacy board had complained that the center was illegally selling medicine to Colorado hospitals without prescriptions, and...

New Illness Emerging in Meningitis Outbreak

Serious epidural abscesses showing up among patients

(Newser) - Some patients recovering from meningitis in the national outbreak are now being struck by a medical double-whammy, the New York Times reports. They're beating the meningitis but developing something called an epidural abscess at the spot where they received the injection of the tainted steroid, usually the spine. The...

2nd Pharmacy Recalls All Drugs
2nd Pharmacy Recalls All
Drugs

2nd Pharmacy Recalls All Drugs

It's a sister company to one at center of meningitis outbreak

(Newser) - A company with the same founders as the pharmacy linked to deadly meningitis outbreak said today that it's recalling all its products after federal inspectors said it must improve its sterility testing. An FDA official said she could not be specific about the problem at Ameridose, which, like the...

How Romney May Be Linked to Meningitis Outbreak

Salon looks at his lax regulation

(Newser) - Less than a week before Election Day, a potential hit to Mitt Romney’s campaign: Salon reports that the recent meningitis outbreak in the US can be linked to Romney’s failure to regulate when he served as governor of Massachusetts. Numerous problems had been reported at the New England...

Mass. Closes New Pharmacy Amid Meningitis Scare

Massachusetts health officials raise sterility concerns

(Newser) - Massachusetts health officials have closed another compounding pharmacy amid the meningitis outbreak traced to the state. An official cited sterility concerns after a surprise inspection at Infusion Resource, a Rhode Island-based pharmacy with a branch in Waltham, Mass. The inspections come after a fungal meningitis outbreak tied to drugs from...

FDA: Drug Co. Knew About Mold, Bacteria Contamination

Months before the meningitis outbreak

(Newser) - Staffers at a pharmacy linked to the deadly meningitis outbreak documented dozens of cases of mold and bacteria growing in rooms that were supposed to be sterile, according to federal health inspectors. In a preliminary report on conditions at the pharmacy, the US Food and Drug Administration said today that...

Man Whose Wife Died of Meningitis Now Has It, Too

Michigan couple each got steroid injection

(Newser) - George Cary lost his wife to the outbreak of fungal meningitis that has killed 24 people so far, and now he has to deal with the disease himself. The 65-year-old Michigan resident tells the AP that he is hospitalized and undergoing treatment. Both he and his wife, Lilian, got shots...

West Nile Outbreak Now Second-Worst Year Ever

Also: Meningitis death toll hits 19

(Newser) - Two developments of note on the West Nile and meningitis outbreaks:
  • West Nile: Nearly 300 new cases surfaced last week, bringing this year's total to 4,531 and making it the second-worst year ever. The death toll rose by 15 to 183. It's the highest number of cases
...

Feds Raid Firm Linked to Meningitis Outbreak

Agents probing New England Compounding Center

(Newser) - Criminal investigators from the Food and Drug Administration have raided the Massachusetts company whose steroid medication has been linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak. An FDA spokesman says the agents' work at the New England Compounding Center is part of the investigation into the outbreak, which has killed at least...

2 More Drugs Named in Meningitis Outbreak

The same compounding center made them, too

(Newser) - Federal health officials today implicated two more drugs in the meningitis outbreak that has killed 15 people and sickened at least 214, NBC News reports. One is a steroid called triamcinolone acetonide, which is similar to methylprednisolone acetate, the back pain steroid that officials have already linked to the outbreak....

Ex-Employees at Drug Firm Say Safety Wasn't a Priority

One pharmacist quit, citing lax quality control

(Newser) - Former employees of the owners of the pharmacy linked to the national meningitis outbreak tell the New York Times that the work culture favored production speed over drug safety. The newspaper talks to eight ex-workers from Ameridose, owned mostly by the same people who run the New England Compounding Center,...

First Meningitis Lawsuit Is In
 First Meningitis Lawsuit Is In 

First Meningitis Lawsuit Is In

Patient sues company, in what could be first of many legal challenges

(Newser) - When your product has made 169 people sick, you should probably start bracing for a lawsuit. Sure enough, the New England Compounding Center of Massachusetts got hit with its first suit yesterday from a Minnesota woman who used its injections, though she has not been diagnosed with meningitis, the AP...

Pharmacy in Meningitis Outbreak Also Accused in '04

Man died after allegedly tainted shot

(Newser) - The compounding pharmacy suspected in the US fungal meningitis outbreak—which has now killed 12 people who are thought to have received tainted steroid injections—was also accused of producing a tainted shot in 2002, the AP reports. New England Compounding Center ultimately settled the lawsuit that was brought after...

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