Compounding pharmacies turn away FDA inspectors
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Compounding pharmacies like the one responsible for the deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis last year have refused access to inspectors.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg told The Tennessean (http://tnne.ws/12SNi6s) that the FDA had to get court orders to enter and inspect two pharmacies.
One of those was Wedgewood Village Pharmacy Inc. in New Jersey, which holds a license to ship drugs into Tennessee. The other is Olympia Compounding Pharmacy in Florida, which is not listed as a licensed pharmacy in Tennessee.
Injectable steroid medicine made by the New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts was responsible for an outbreak that has sickened 733 people across the nation with 53 deaths.
The outbreak was first identified in Tennessee, where 152 people were sickened with 14 deaths.
