FDA discloses health facilities that did business with tainted pharmacy Three city medical facilities purchased drug linked to meningitis outbreak; dozens more have been asked to shelve items from New England Compounding Center

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has disclosed the identities of more than 80 health care providers across New York City that purchased drugs from the pharmacy that is the origin of a compound linked to a national meningitis outbreak. State and federal health officials are urging providers to pull from use all drugs from the facility, New England Compounding Center, “out of an abundance of caution.”

A list released this week by the FDA included three medical offices in New York City — New York Surgery Center of Queens/Boulevard Surgical Center, Physio Logic Medicine, and New York Surgical and Anesthesia Suites, PC — that since late May have purchased the substance implicated in the outbreak, an injectable arthritis drug called methylprednisolone acetate, manufactured by New England Compounding Center.

There is no evidence yet that any patients have been infected in New York City or that the medicines purchased by the providers were contaminated, but the New York State Department of Health has joined the FDA in asking providers to follow up with patients who were injected with substances from the firm.
It is also asking patients to be vigilant for signs of infection and to contact their health care providers if they are concerned. Symptoms of meningitis include fever, headache, nausea and vomiting.
Brooklyn-based Physio Logic Medicine declined to comment. New York Surgical and Anesthesia Suites confirmed that it had been contacted by the FDA in connection with the investigation but did not provide further comment. The director of the New York Surgery Center of Queens declined to comment.

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