INDIANAPOLIS (Legal Newsline) - Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced on Monday that the Indiana Board of Pharmacy voted to indefinitely suspend the license of the New England Compound Center, a pharmacy connected to the meningitis outbreak.
Zoeller's office recently filed an emergency petition requesting that the board suspend the Framingham, Mass.-based NECC's license. The company agreed to the suspension last week.
The board voted unanimously on Monday on an agreement for indefinite summary suspension of NECC's license.
"The attorney general's office will now move forward with filing a formal complaint with the Indiana Board of Pharmacy," Zoeller said. "The board can then consider the case and determine the most appropriate discipline."
On Monday, the Indiana State Department of Health confirmed 51 cases of fungal meningitis and four deaths in the state resulting from a tainted steroid product created by NECC. The company is a licensed non-resident pharmacy with products distributed and sold in Indiana, making it legally responsible for safely and properly storing and distributing devices and drugs.
There are 1,502 people in Indiana who were exposed to the contaminated medication through joint injection or an epidural.
In September, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration identified the NECC as the pharmacy that produced the injections. NECC then stopped production and started a recall of the drugs.
As of Monday, the CDC had identified 404 fungal meningitis cases and 29 deaths across 19 states resulting from the tainted injections. The cause of the contamination is currently under review.
Pharmacy linked to meningitis outbreak has license suspended in Indiana
