Published: Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at 2:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at 2:01 a.m.
The Florida Board of Pharmacy met for a second time in December, searching
for ways to respond to a meningitis outbreak linked to contaminated pain
medication from a New England-based compounding lab. The contaminated medication
has sickened more than 540 people in 19 states.
In
Florida, the Ocala area — Marion County — is the location for 18 of the state's
25 meningitis cases, including all three of the state's outbreak-related
fatalities.
Over
the course of its two meetings in as many months, the Board of Pharmacy has
conceded that there is virtually no regulation of drug-compounding activities in
Florida. There are about 8,000 licensed pharmacists in Florida. All of them are
permitted to create specialized medications, as long as they have a doctor's
prescription. That is the extent of the regulation.
"The
board said it wasn't even sure how many pharmacists are engaged in compounding,"
The Ocala Star-Banner reported, "and ordered a survey to try and determine which
ones are compounding and what drugs they are making."
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