The outbreak of meningitis that’s killed at least four Tennesseans and sickened dozens more is raising questions about a certain kind of pharmacy regulation. But in Nashville, state officials say that conversation can come later.
The meningitis outbreak is blamed on contamination at a Massachusetts pharmacy called the New England Compounding Center. Compounding pharmacies are not federally regulated. They fall under state oversight, in what Vanderbilt Preventive Medicine Chair William Shaffner calls a “regulatory gap.”
“They’re licensed by the states; the pharmacists who work in them are licensed by the states. But the state pharmacy boards don’t have the expertise, experience and resources to actually oversee these compounding pharmacies as manufacturing facilities.”
Asked whether the issue raises questions about Tennessee’s laws, Governor Bill Haslam says the focus now is on sick people hoping to get better.
“I think there’ll be plenty of time later to try to come to some answers about, Do we have the right procedures in place?”
It’s not clear just how many prescription drugs are prepared in compounding pharmacies. The facility in New England shipped some 17 thousand tainted injections believed to have caused the meningitis outbreak.
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