Originally published on Thu January 31, 2013 1:19 pm
Almost 950 Florida-licensed pharmacies engage in “sterile compounding,” the type of high-risk drug-making that led to a deadly fungal meningitis epidemic last year, according to a Department of Health survey released last week.
Sterile compounders are now given priority for state inspections, but it’s going to be a daunting task to check them all, judging from the survey report and interviews with pharmacists and health department officials. There are two reasons:
--One-third of the 950 are based out of state, like the New England Compounding Center, the source of contaminated drugs that caused the epidemic. Florida law doesn’t give health officials any authority over out-of-state licensees.
--While the state has 18 inspectors for pharmacies, the health department said, only five of them are licensed pharmacists. And even the pharmacists need extra training to inspect the high-risk sterile compounders, officials said
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