Contaminated drug passed lab test

Products from the Massachusetts pharmacy linked to the deadly meningitis outbreak passed a lab test in May, reports The Wall Street Journal. In addition, the pharmacy dodged a reprimand by Massachusetts regulators in 2004 after protesting it would be "fatal to the business." The company's founders come under scrutiny by media outlets as more people file lawsuits.

The Wall Street Journal: Tainted Drug Passed Lab Test
The Massachusetts specialty pharmacy linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak had its products tested at an independent lab, which in May stated that samples from a batch of steroids -- later implicated in the meningitis -- were "sterile," according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. But experts said the sample size that apparently was tested was too small to be meaningful and didn't comply with industry guidelines (Martin, Maremont and Rockoff, 10/24).

The Associated Press: Mass. Pharmacy In Meningitis Outbreak Dodged Reprimand
Massachusetts regulators in 2004 proposed a formal reprimand for a company now linked to deadly meningitis outbreak, but they never delivered it after the company protested the reprimand could be "fatal to the business." The sanction by the Board of Registration in Pharmacy was included in a proposed consent agreement that was meant to resolve complaints against the New England Compounding Center in Framingham (Lindsay, 10/24).

The New York Times: Spotlight Put On Founders Of Drug Firm In Outbreak
Starting with a recycling company created by one brother in 1990, the (Conigliaro) family branched into pharmaceuticals, riding changes in the health care landscape to become a major supplier of tailor-made drugs to hospitals, clinics and doctor's offices across the nation. But those family enterprises are now under intense scrutiny by federal and state authorities and personal-injury lawyers. A pharmaceutical compounding company that is part of the family portfolio -- the New England Compounding Center -- was the source of a fungus that led to a meningitis outbreak that as of Wednesday had killed 24 and sickened 317 (Tavernise, Pollack and Goodnough, 10/24).

Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly-Area Hospitals Got Medicine From Troubled Compounding Pharmacy, FDA Says
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health issued a preliminary report Tuesday evening about its investigation of the New England Compounding Center, a now-closed compounding pharmacy near Boston thought to have been the source of a fungal meningitis outbreak that has spread to 17 states. ... Compounding pharmacies are only supposed to make new potions based on a prescription from a doctor. NECC was making medicine in big batches and shipped 17,676 vials around the country, including to facilities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware (Sell, 10/24).

Detroit Free Press: More Michiganders Sue Over Meningitis As Death Toll Rises
At least five more Michigan residents who fell ill after being injected with a contaminated steroid linked to a nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak have filed lawsuits, as the number of deaths in the state rises to six. The new wave of lawsuits comes one week after a class-action -- the first in Michigan and the third in the nation in the case -- was filed Oct. 15 on behalf of a Livingston County woman who was diagnosed with fungal meningitis after being injected with a contaminated steroid (Scott Dorsey, 10/24).