Category Archives: Pharmacy

BOSTON (Reuters) - The pharmacy company linked to the deadly meningitis outbreak has cut more than half of its workforce, affecting about 40 employees, according to people familiar with the situation. New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Massachusetts, confirmed on Friday it has cut jobs. The company did not provide any more details about the reduction. "The events of the past two weeks are a great tragedy, and the thoughts and prayers of all those connected to New England Compounding Center continue to be with the individuals and families affected," the company said in a statement. "As a result of these events, on Thursday and Friday of this week NECC informed employees of a workforce reduction at the company - a necessary step under the current circumstances." NECC said its singular focus continues to be the national recall of all of its products, "and working with the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Board of Registration in Pharmacy on their ongoing investigation." (Reporting by Tim McLaughlin; Editing by Gary Hill) Read more: Pharmacy company linked to meningitis outbreak slashes workforce … Continue reading →

The compounding pharmacy at the center of the fungal meningitis outbreak was not following the requirements of its state license, according to a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass., shipped more than 17,000 vials of a steroid -- now implicated in the outbreak -- to pain clinics in 23 states. But Dr. Madeleine Biondolillo, director of the state's Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality, said the company was meant to make up drugs only in response to a doctor's prescription for an individual patient. Read this story on http://www.medpagetoday.com. "This organization chose to apparently violate the licensing regulations under which they were allowed to operate," Biondolillo told reporters in a telephone news conference Thursday. FDA spokeswoman Dr. Deborah Autor told MedPage Today the agency has legal remedies available, including the ability to seize products and to lay criminal charges, but she did not elaborate further. A 2006 warning letter to the company, charging it was acting more like a drug manufacturing firm than a compounding pharmacy, elicited assurances that patient safety was being protected and that applicable laws and regulations were being obeyed, Autor said. If the current investigation … Continue reading →

11-10-2012 19:32 fficials say the pharmacy linked to a deadly outbreak of meningitis was operating illegally. Dr. Jon LaPook reports. More here: Pharmacy linked to meningitis outbreak operated illegally - Video … Continue reading →

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The pharmacy at the center of a deadly meningitis outbreak was asked on Thursday by a House of Representatives committee to brief lawmakers about the role that its products may have played in the crisis. Bipartisan lawmakers on the Republican-led House Energy and Commerce Committee called on the New England Compounding Center co-owner Barry Cadden to provide a documented picture of his company's operations at a meeting with panel staff to be held no later than October 18. Officials at the Framingham, Massachusetts-based pharmacy were not immediately available for comment. NECC produced contaminated vials of steroid treatments for back and joint pain that health officials say could be behind an outbreak of rare fungal meningitis that has sickened 170 people in 11 U.S. states, leaving a dozen dead. "We ask you to preserve all documents and communications that may be relevant to understanding how the product was contaminated and distributed, as well as business practices of the NECC in general," Republican committee chairman Fred Upton said in an October 11-dated letter to Cadden. The letter was co-authored by six other committee members - three Republicans and three Democrats - including ranking Democrat Henry Waxman. Committee staff was … Continue reading →

10-10-2012 18:05 The number of people sickened by a deadly meningitis outbreak continues to rise. Experts at The Centers for Disease Control say there are now 137 cases with at least 12 deaths. Here is the original post: A look at compounding pharmacies - Video … Continue reading →

SMITHFIELD, R.I. (WPRI) Millennium Pharmacy was empty on Wednesday, as the facility faces serious accusations by the Rhode Island Department of Health. The suspension order issued by the DOH said that by allowing Millennium to keep their license would be, an imminent threat to the health, welfare and safety of the public. The retail pharmacy serves 26 nursing homes in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The pharmacys president tells Eyewitness News theyre disappointed with the suspension. The suspension order cites many problems from when the departments inspectors went to the pharmacy earlier this month. The DOH claims workers hid misbranded medications from inspectors before they were allowed in, and that prescription pills were put into sandwich baggies or other containers with no information printed on them to say what the pills were or when they expire. Plus, the DOH claims the staff would redistribute returned medications to patients in nursing facilities. The company released a statement to defend themselves saying: Our own internal investigation, to date, has given us no indication that nay medications have been dispensed to cause safety concern for the health and welfare of the patients we serve, Philip J. Keough IV, President/CEO Millennium. Read the original here: … Continue reading →

Workers at J.E. Pierce Apothecary, a compounding pharmacy in Brookline. (Curt Nickisch/WBUR) BOSTON A second compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts has agreed to temporarily shut down. Ameridose of Westborough is run by the same executives who run the Framingham company that produced the steroid linked to a deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis. More than 130 people in 11 states have been sickened. Twelve have died. But unlike New England Compounding Center, Ameridose is not issuing recalls while regulators inspect its facility. The investigation into the mounting death toll linked to NECC is prompting many to call for greater regulation of such compounding pharmacies. Still, many in the industry say that will likely only make things worse. Smaller Pharmacies Forced To Adapt Ever since the news broke that a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts was been linked to a growing roster of dead patients, Greg Laham has been upset. Its really a shame, Laham said. Its a horrible thing. Laham is the owner of a different compounding pharmacy, one of dozens around the state, Sullivans in Roslindale. The store opened the year Fenway Park did 100 years ago. Mr. Sullivan started the business in 1912. Theres been three owners, Laham said. He, another … Continue reading →

The Massachusetts pharmacy linked to a nationwide deadly meningitis outbreak has had their license suspended to distribute prescription drugs in Ohio. The decision comes as Ohio health officials said they have notified nearly every Ohioan who received the recalled steroid suspected in 12 deaths and 137 infections nationally. Kyle Parker, director of the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, announced on Wednesday the summary suspension of the license of New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Mass. In a statement, the state pharmacy board said the suspension was made after discussions with the Ohio Department of Health. The pharmacy board found clear and convincing evidence that the continuation of New England Compounding Centers professional practice presented a danger of immediate and serious harm to others, the statement said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Nationally said all of the people sickened received the epidural steroid injections of allegedly contaminated methylprednisolone acetate compounded by the Massachusetts pharmacy, which has ceased operations since the outbreak was identified. The pharmacy has voluntarily recalled all of its products, including the injectable steroid. Ohio has recorded one rare form of fungal meningitis infection, an unidentified 65-year-old male. The drug was administered to 424 patients through four pain … Continue reading →

Published: Oct. 10, 2012 at 5:26 PM BOSTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Massachusetts officials said an executive of a sister company of the pharmacy linked to the meningitis outbreak recused herself as a state regulator. Sophia Pasedis, vice president of regulatory affairs and compliance at Ameridose, which shares the same owner as that of the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass., was appointed to the 11-member Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy in June 2004 and reappointed in 2008, The Boston Globe reported. The New England Compounding Center is at the center of the fungal meningitis outbreak that has killed 12 and sickened 137 in 10 states. The compounding pharmacy in Framingham, Mass., produced about 13,000 doses of the injectable steroid methylprednisolone acetate used to treat back pain. The investigation into the exact cause of the outbreak is ongoing locally and nationally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said its preliminary analyses showed all infected patients received an injection of preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate, a steroid prepared by the New England Compounding Center. "The compounding center voluntarily surrendered its license at the request of the state of Massachusetts and at the direction of public health officials, announced … Continue reading →

The pharmacy responsible for manufacturing contaminated steroid shots suspected in a meningitis outbreak, which has killed 12 and sickened more than 120 around the U.S., has set up a recall operations center to properly remove its products from circulation. Since the September 25 recall of three lots of a steroid produced by the New England Compounding Center (NECC), the outbreak has spread to 10 states and infected 137 people, according to state health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Brad Puffer, director of communications for the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, said he could not "confirm or deny" a criminal investigation into the company. Also of interest one of the NECCs owners, Sophia Pasedis, also owns a related pharmacy nearby; one of its executives is a board member and former president of the state agency that regulates pharmacies. The Boston Globe reported that Sophia Pasedis was appointed to the 11-member Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy in both 2004 and 2008. She also serves as the vice president of regulatory affairs and compliance at Ameridose in Westborough which has the same ownership as the Framingham-based NECC. The state Public Health Department, which oversees the pharmacy … Continue reading →