March 31, 2013
Legal action is proceeding in
the nation's fungal meningitis outbreak, but regulatory reform has been
slow.
Last week, Michigan At-torney
General Bill Schuette requested a grand-jury in-vestigation into whether the New
England Compounding Center violated state law in distributing tainted steroid
solutions in Michigan.
Yet while Congress and state
regulatory agencies are debating changes in the way compounding pharmacies are
regulated, little action has been forthcoming six months into the outbreak. Nor
is any expected soon.
That's a concern for
men-ingitis patients such as Jona Angst.
"I would have thought they
would have jumped on it," the Brighton resident said. "It seems they're trying
to do something — but it has been six months."
The contaminated steroids had
been used by health-care facilities, including Michi-gan Pain Specialists in
Genoa Township, to treat back
pain .
Angst developed an epi-dural
abscess — an infection but not full-blown meningitis — after receiving shots
last year and is in treatment.
"The medicine's been
horrible, I've been losing my hair," she said. "But it's been horrible for all
of us."
The outbreak was first
reported in September and Congress first took up the issue in November.
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers,
R-Brighton said Congress needs to be thorough it its investigation into the
outbreak and in drafting solutions to prevent it from happening again.
"We must first fully
understand what went wrong and caused the tragic deaths of dozens of Americans
to ensure that any legislative solution put forth actually solves the problem,"
said Rogers in a statement to the Press & Argus.
Rogers sits on the House
Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees the Food and Drug Administration.
He said the committee is also investigating the "oversight of the NECC to
understand its knowledge of the operations."
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