Alexander and Senate Committee Looking Into Meningitis Outbreak

Republican Senator Lamar Alexander is again asking federal agencies for answers related to the fungal meningitis outbreak. So far, 70 Tennesseans have been infected due to contamination at a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts.

Earlier this month, Alexander sent the FDA Commissioner a list of questions about laws governing that kind of pharmacy. Now he and the rest of the Senate’s Health Committee are asking the FDA, state regulators and the pharmacy itself about the distribution system that spread contaminated drugs to clinics in 23 states. They also want to see documents going back as far as 1998, when the pharmacy’s parent company was founded.

Alexander says the outbreak shows that compounding pharmacies should be better regulated. Once the investigation is complete, he says the committee will –quote- “try to make sure something like this never happens again.”

Letter to the FDA
Letter to Massachusetts regulators
Letter to New England Compounding Pharmacy