(Image source: NBC News )


BY MEGAN RICE

As the meningitis outbreak continues to grow, the New England Compounding Center or NECC is coming under more scrutiny. This time for violating Massachusetts law. Here’s CBS News .

“Compounding pharmacies which mix custom made medicines must have prescription for every patient for each dose they send out. It appears NECC shipped the tainted vials of steroids to medical facilities in bulk.”

The Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality and FDA officials told NBC , compound pharmacies need more people keeping an eye on them.

“...state and federal agencies needed more guidance on how to regulate such pharmacies, which have morphed from small operations licensed to mix drugs on a case-by-case basis to large scale manufacturers.”

But will additional regulation agencies actually help? An Illinois pharmacist told WBEZ he worries this would only hurt the compound pharmacy industry.

“I’m not confident that you could put another level of bureaucracy, another level of guidelines, rules and regs in place that would make a difference.”


The tragic incident has claimed 14 lives thus far. And ABC News reports the end isn’t in sight.  

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcing today a dramatic increase in the number of reported cases to 170 spanning 11 states and that number is expected to rise.”