Some say FDA oversight needed State boards lack staff to fully monitor

Duane Marsteller and Walter F. Roche Jr.

The Tennessean

The fungal meningitis outbreak centered on Nashville has renewed debate over who should regulate specialty pharmacies that compound medicines.

While they fall under the purview of state pharmacy boards, critics contend those state agencies are often too understaffed and underfunded to adequately monitor such facilities. They want the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to take a greater regulatory role.

But the FDA has said it will do that only on a case-by-case basis — such as the meningitis outbreak that surfaced in Nashville and has since spread to four other states.

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