Essential Read!! State inspectors unarmed in fight against bad compounders--The common theme among these episodes was that, while investigations of the deadly mishaps revealed unsanitary or unsterile conditions, each compounding pharmacy had passed inspection by its state pharmacy board prior to the mishaps

Posted on December 22, 2013

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  by Tom McNif
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The deaths of 64 people injected with contaminated drugs created by New England Compounding Center last year drew wide public attention because of the scale of the tragedy and the mistakes uncovered after the fact, but the incident was by no means isolated.

In 2007, three people died after being injected with a compounded drug made in a Texas pharmacy. Inspectors discovered that drugs’ were six times as potent as the labels indicated. Tougher state oversight would have prevented the deaths, critics say.

In 2005, a compounded medicine produced by a Maryland pharmacy for use in open-heart surgery caused severe infections and three deaths. Afterward, inspectors determined the drugs were contaminated.

In 2002, two died after being injected with tainted steroids produced by a South Carolina pharmacy. After the fact, South Carolina inspectors found the pharmacy unsanitary and its sterilization practices falling abysmally short.

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