64 Dead And More than 700 Infected From Contaminated Medication: Two Pharmacists On Trial

Sixty-four patients in nine states died and more than 700 people were diagnosed with fungal meningitis after receiving a contaminated medication in 2012.

In CNN article, the alleged cause of deaths is due to contaminated vials of preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate, a drug used to treat pain and swelling with arthritis and joint disorders.

Barry J. Caden, owner and the head pharmacist of the New England Compounding Center (NECC) and Glenn A. Chin, NECC's supervisory pharmacist, were charged with 25 counts of second-degree murder in connection with the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.

According to the Wall Street Journal, both Caden and Chin pleaded not guilty. The jury begun to weigh evidence last Wednesday in federal court in Boston for the trial of Caden. While Chin's trial is set to begin after Mr. Caden ends.

Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told Wall Street, NECC made three contaminated lots of an injected steroid pain medication that causes 750 cases of fungal meningitis in 20 states including 64 deaths. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors also found contaminated drug batches and unsanitary conditions at the facility.

Fungal Meningitis is caused by fungus spreading through the blood to the spinal cord.

First cases of the outbreak were reported in fall 2012. Framingham, Massachusetts-based NECC recalled the three lots of steroid in September of the same year. The next month, FDA reported that it had identified serious deficiencies and significant violations of the pharmacy law and regulations that clearly placed the public health at risk.

Because of the incidence, in January 2013, NECC filed a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission claiming its cleaning company should also share the responsibility of the outbreak. UniFirst Corp. acknowledged that it provides the monthly cleaning services but discredit the pharmacy's claims.

By the late 2013 after filing for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11, NECC owners agreed to shell out some $100 million fund for the victims of the outbreak.

In 2014, the U.S. attorney's office bought charges for deaths occurred in states with criminal laws that do not require prosecutors to prove Barry Caden and Glenn Chin had a specific intent to kill the patients to prove second-degree murder, but rather they acted with extreme indifference to human life.

As a supervising pharmacist, Mr. Chin failed to properly sterilized the batches of the drug before it was being shipped to pain clinics and surgery centers in different states, and that he acted in under the direction of Mr. Caden.

Prosecutors charged the two pharmacists with fraud and introducing misbranded drugs into the interstate commerce with the intent to defraud and mislead many.

If convicted, Caden and Chin will face maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The trial of Barry Caden and Glenn Chin hopefully brings change to U.S. health care. Thousands of compounding pharmacies that create alternate formulations of medications that are supposed to be tailored to the needs of individual patients, and makes drugs that are not subjected to the same federal quality standards as pharmaceutical companies.