Massachusetts Shuts Down Another Compounder

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The New York Times
Monday, October 29, 2012

Massachusetts Shuts Down Another Compounder

By ABBY GOODNOUGH

BOSTON — Massachusetts shut down another compounding pharmacy after a surprise inspection last week found conditions that called into question the sterility of its products, state officials said Sunday.

The pharmacy, Infusion Resource in Waltham, voluntarily surrendered its license over the weekend, said Dr. Madeleine Biondolillo, director of the Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality at the Massachusetts Public Health Department. Inspectors who visited Infusion Resource on Tuesday found “significant issues with the environment in which medications were being compounded,” Dr. Biondolillo said during a news conference here. She would not disclose details, but said that in another troubling discovery, patients had apparently been receiving intravenous medications at the pharmacy, against state regulations.

The findings led the state to immediately issue a cease-and-desist order, Dr. Biondolillo said, preventing Infusion Resource from dispensing any drugs. But she added that as of yet, there was no evidence of any contaminated drugs produced there.

The latest shutdown comes amid a continuing investigation of New England Compounding Pharmacy, the company believed responsible for a national meningitis outbreak in which 25 people have died, at least 344 others have fallen ill and as many as 14,000 people are thought to have been exposed. State and federal inspections in recent weeks found unsanitary conditions at New England Compounding, from surfaces coated with mold and bacteria to residue on sterilization equipment.

New England Compounding has suspended operations and laid off most of its employees.

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