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Pharmaceutical Fraud: 14 Accused Of Causing Meningitis Deaths

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In September 2012, reports of fungal meningitis cases began to emerge in Tennessee. Within the week, the illnesses were linked to a contaminated pain-killing injection made by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass.

In the two years that have passed since the outbreak, 64 people have died from meningitis caused by the NECC drug contamination in 20 states, and 751 have been sickened. NECC closed its doors soon after the accusations and made a preliminary settlement for $100 million in victim compensation.

Early this morning, 14 arrests of founders and NECC employees took place around the Boston area. Those taken into custody knowingly compounded, mislabeled and distributed contaminated drugs. Two of those arrested, co-founder Barry Cadden and Glenn Adam Chin, a senior pharmacist, were charged with second degree murder.

Guests

Martha Bebinger, WBUR reporter. She tweets @mbebinger.

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The New York Times: Massachusetts Pharmacy Owners Arrested In Meningitis Deaths

  • "Fourteen employees of a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy were charged Wednesday in connection with a fungal meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people in several states, the United States attorney’s office in Boston said."

The Boston Globe: A Wish For Relief, A Tainted Drug, A Tragic Outcome

  • "The Boston Globe has examined who died, why some lived while others perished, and the anguish felt by the victims’ families and the doctors who unwittingly gave them drugs that harbored a lethal black mold."

This segment aired on December 17, 2014.

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