Mid-South pharmacy investigated for potentially contaminated medications

(WMC-TV) - Government health officials continue to investigate a Mid-South pharmacy for potentially contaminated medications in shots sent to 13 different states.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, the investigation involves seven reports from patients who received steroid injections from Main Street Family Pharmacy, a compounding pharmacy in Newbern, Tenn.

There have already been reports of adverse effects from the shot in North Carolina and Illinois.

The injections contain methylprednisolone acetate, or MPA, which is the same drug at the center of last year's deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis. More than 55 people have died and over 740 others have been sickened after receiving contaminated injections from a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy.

The FDA said at least one of the seven cases appears to be a fungal infection.

Reports only include adverse effects meaning it is not as severe as the contamination in Massachusetts.

The investigation includes help from the Centers for Disease Control, The Food and Drug Administration, and several state health departments.

Main Street Family Pharmacy is a compounding pharmacy, which means it mixes custom formulations of drugs based on doctors' specifications.

The Associated Press reports compounding pharmacies have long operated in a legal gray area between state and federal regulations. Since last year's outbreak, the FDA has stepped up inspections of compounding pharmacies across the country, triggering several national recalls of potentially contaminated medications.

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Mid-South pharmacy investigated for potentially contaminated medications