Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is calling for laws to require inspections and background checks for compounding pharmacies like the one that produced the drug that caused a nationwide meningitis outbreak.
The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta reports.
Michigan suffered more casualties than any other state with 264 people infected and 19 deaths. Some of the patients are still recovering a year later.
Attorney General Schuette says the state needs to act because, unlike regular pharmacies, compounding centers are not regulated by the federal government.
“We owe it to the victims of this tragedy to ensure something of this magnitude does not happen again,” he says.
However, these rules would not have prevented last year’s outbreak because the compounding center was in Massachusetts. Schuette says Congress can also enact nationwide standards.
A state grand jury is also examining whether the Massachusetts compounding company can be charged with criminal wrongdoing in Michigan.
