Pharmacy Blames Cleaners in Meningitis Outbreak

Jan 4, 2013 11:41am

Credit: Minnesota Department of Health/AP Photo

The pharmacy at the heart of the fungal meningitis outbreak says a cleaning company it hired should share the blame for the tainted steroid injections that caused more than 600 illnesses in 19 states, killing 39 people.

Click here to read about the road to recovery for fungal meningitis victims.

The New England Compounding Pharmacy, which made the fungus-tainted drugs, sent a letter to UniFirst Corp., which provided once-a month cleaning services to the Framingham, Mass., lab, demanding it indemnify NECC for the meningitis outbreak, according to a UniFirst filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Based on its preliminary review of this matter, the company believes that NECCs claims are without merit,UniFirst wrote in its quarterly filing.

The New England Compounding Center recalled 17,000 vials of tainted steroid injections on Sept. 26 before recalling all drugs and shutting down on Oct. 6.

The Food and Drug Administration investigated NECCs lab and found that a quarter of the steroid injections in one bin contained greenish black foreign matter, according to the report. The FDA also identified several cleanrooms that had bacterial or mold overgrowths.

UniFirsts UniClean business cleaned portions of the NECC cleanrooms to NECCs specifications and using NECCs cleansing solutions, UniFirst spokesman Adam Soreoff said in a statement. It provided two technicians once a month for about an hour and a half.

UniClean was not in any way responsible for NECCs day-to-day operations, its overall facility cleanliness, or the integrity of the products they produced, Soreoff said. Therefore, based on what we know, we believe any NECC claims against UniFirst or UniClean are unfounded and without merit.

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Pharmacy Blames Cleaners in Meningitis Outbreak