States are cracking down on specialty pharmacies, conducting surprise inspections and weighing proposals to require companies to obtain special permits to mix sterile drugs. The moves are in response to last fall’s deadly meningitis outbreak that was linked to tainted steroid shots made by a Massachusetts pharmacy.
About a dozen states, including Maryland and Virginia, are considering legislation that would require stricter licensing requirements for specialty pharmacies, known as compounders.
In addition, New York regulators have issued a temporary ban on sales by Illinois-based PharMEDium Services, one of the largest compounding pharmacies in the country. That action is forcing several New York hospitals to mix or compound 5,000 doses a week to avoid running out of lifesaving medications — a labor-intensive and costly process that many hospitals are not equipped to perform, a spokesman for the Greater New York Hospital Association said.
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