NECC Archives - Lets Talk Health

New Cases, Death Rate Slows in Fungal Meningitis Outbreak

11/29/2012 majac Your Health Matters

If there's any positive news to be known about the fungal meningitis outbreak, linked to tainted injectable medications manufactured by the New England Compounding Center, NECC, is that at long last the reports of new infections and deaths having occurred are coming in more slowly. A consumer watchdog group, Public Citizen, has written a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asking it to revisit 16 compounding pharmacies to which the agency had issued warnings from 2003 through 2012, in an effort to prevent any such health tragedies in the future.

Drug Administration, health, NECC, Public Citizen

Insight: Red flags ignored for years at firm in meningitis crisis

10/26/2012 majac Your Health Matters

BOSTON (Reuters) – A cracked vial here, a missing label there. The complaints coming into New England Compounding Center, the firm at the heart of the deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak, were piling up. In March, regulators responded to a complaint from the prestigious Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary about a potency concern involving one of the eye medications it purchased from NECC. The investigation is ongoing. Over the summer, physicians at Ruby Memorial Hospital in West Virginia returned a bag of cardioplegia solution used in heart surgery after a patient did not respond as expected. …

NECC, West Virginia

Meningitis probe could hit hospital drug supplies: U.S.

10/22/2012 majac Your Health Matters

(Reuters) – The extended shutdown of a sister company of the pharmacy at the center of the deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak may exacerbate drug shortages for some hospitals and healthcare providers as the number of infection cases neared 300, U.S. health regulators said. Ameridose, a drug manufacturer owned by the same people who own New England Compounding Center, or NECC, has been closed since October 10. It will remain shuttered until November 5 while authorities inspect the plant, at least temporarily cutting off supplies to its customers. …

health, NECC

Meningitis suit seeks freeze of pharmacy owners’ assets

10/19/2012 majac Your Health Matters

BOSTON (Reuters) – Patients exposed to a deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak are suing to freeze the personal assets of executives at the New England Compounding Center, the pharmacy whose injectable steroids have been linked to 20 deaths and over 250 cases of infection. Peter McGrath, a former federal prosecutor, said he was spear heading a civil case that alleges Massachusetts-based NECC and company officers Barry and Lisa Cadden and Greg Conigliaro are responsible for the tainted drugs. …

NECC

Ameridose agrees to extend shutdown amid meningitis probe

10/19/2012 majac Your Health Matters

BOSTON (Reuters) – Ameridose LLC, sister company to the New England Compounding Center at the heart of the U.S. meningitis outbreak, said on Friday it has agreed to extend a temporary shutdown while state and federal regulators continue an investigation into the company. Ameridose, based in Westborough, Massachusetts, shares some common ownership with NECC, which is why investigators began an inspection of the company on October 10. …

NECC

Lawsuit targets assets of pharmacy linked to meningitis outbreak

10/19/2012 majac Your Health Matters

BOSTON (Reuters) – The people behind New England Compounding Center have been targeted in a lawsuit that seeks to get an attachment against their personal assets, the latest fallout for the pharmacy linked to the deadly meningitis outbreak. Peter McGrath, a former federal prosecutor, said he is spearheading a civil case that alleges NECC and company officers Barry and Lisa Cadden and Greg Conigliaro are responsible for the tainted steroid injections that have killed 20 people so far, according to a statement on Friday. …

NECC

Feds raid Massachusetts lab linked to meningitis outbreak

10/16/2012 majac Your Health Matters

(Reuters) – The top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts on Tuesday said federal agents raided the New England Compounding Center, the pharmacy linked to a meningitis outbreak that has killed 15 people and sickened more than 200 others. U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said: "I can confirm that this office and our law enforcement partners are investigating allegations concerning the New England Compounding Center." On Tuesday afternoon, agents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration searched the NECC facility in Framingham, Mass., while local police provided support, local police said. …

Attorney Carmen Ortiz, Drug Administration, NECC

Tennessee suspends NECC license after meningitis outbreak

10/15/2012 majac Your Health Matters

NASHVILLE (Reuters) – Tennessee, the state hardest hit by a rare outbreak of fungal meningitis, on Monday suspended the license of New England Compounding Center, the company which made the steroid linked to the deaths of 15 people The Pharmacy Board of Tennessee voted 7 to 0 to accept NECC’s offer to voluntarily surrender the license to operate in the state, said Bill Christian, spokesman for the state health department. The board took the action at a hearing to discuss the outbreak of meningitis, which has stricken 53 people in Tennessee and left six people dead in the state. …

Bill Christian, health, NECC

Meningitis-linked firm sold drugs without requiring prescriptions: emails

10/13/2012 majac Your Health Matters

BOSTON (Reuters) – The drug-mixing company at the heart of a deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak solicited bulk orders from physicians and failed to require proof of individual patient prescriptions as required under state regulations, emails to a customer show. Reuters reviewed more than a dozen emails that show the New England Compounding Center, contrary to Massachusetts regulations, sold drugs without requiring physicians to supply individual patient prescriptions. The customer confirmed that NECC supplied the clinic with drugs without patient names or prescriptions. …

NECC