Pharmacy blames cleaners in fungal meningitis outbreak
The
compounding pharmacy at the center of an ongoing outbreak of fungal
meningitis and other infections says the cleaning company it hired is
also at fault for unsanitary conditions linked to more than 650
infections and 39 deaths in the U.S.
The New England
Compounding Center sent a letter Dec. 31 to UniFirst Corp., asking
UniFirst officials to indemnify NECC against claims stemming from the
compounding and sale of tainted steroid injection drugs, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“This
demand relates to the limited, once-a-month cleaning services the
Company provided to portions of NECC’s cleanroom facilities,” UniFirst,
of Wilmington, Mass., explained in required filings.
“Based on its preliminary review of this matter, the Company believed that NECC’s claims are without merit.”
Federal
health regulators found fungi in three lots of tainted steroids linked
to infections and deaths and more fungi and bacteria in other drugs made
by NECC.
In addition, Food and Drug Administration
inspectors found evidence of contamination documented throughout the
NECC facility and dating from January 2012 through September. In some
cases, surfaces were overgrown with visible mold, inspectors said.
UniFirst
provided services through its UniClean business as specified by NECC
and using NECC’s own “defined cleansing solutions,” UniFirst spokesman
Adam Soreff told NBC News in a statement. UniClean technicians cleaned
approximately 1½ hours each month.
“UniClean was not
in any way responsible for NECC’s day-to-day operations, its overall
facility cleanliness, or the integrity of the products they produced,”
Soreff said.
NECC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection on Dec. 21, with officials pledging to establish a fund for
victims. NECC faces more than 400 lawsuits from patients who received
epidural steroid injections later found to be contaminated with fungus
linked to the serious and deadly infections. Some 14,000 people in 23
states received the injections before the problem was discovered in
September.
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