Ma Senate OK’s Crackdown on Compounding Pharmacies

The Massachusetts Senate has unanimously backed stricter regulations on drug compounding pharmacies like the one blamed for a deadly nationwide meningitis outbreak.

The Senate bill establishes sterile compounding and complex non-sterile compounding specialty licenses to be issued by the Board of Registration of Pharmacy. It also requires inspectors to conduct planned and unplanned inspections of pharmacies.

The vote follows passage of a similar measure by the Massachusetts House earlier this month.

According to federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 64 people have died and 750 others have been sickened in 20 states by a tainted steroid distributed by NECC in Framingham.

[Associated Press]