Pharmacy linked to meningitis deaths sidestepped punishment in 2006

BOSTON (Reuters) – The pharmacy tied to a deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak fended off discipline from health regulators in 2006 that could have fatally damaged the company’s reputation and put it out of business, records released on Monday revealed. The Massachusetts-based New England Compounding Center (NECC) faced three years of probation and a public reprimand amid allegations that the pharmacy violated accepted standards for compounding methylprednisolone acetate, the same steroid that is linked to the current fungal meningitis outbreak. …