Co-owner of pharmacy at center of meningitis outbreak was faulted Years before meningitis outbreak, Barry Cadden was uncooperative with FDA, congressional staff says

By Liz Kowalczyk

Globe Staff / November 13, 2012

Pharmacist Barry Cadden, co-owner of the Framingham pharmacy blamed for the deadly national meningitis outbreak, has a long history of not cooperating with federal regulators, including one 2004 inspection when he initially denied having an eye medication that was the subject of a complaint, according to a memo released Monday by a congressional committee.

An inspector later spotted a drawer labeled with the drug’s name, Trypan blue, and asked Cadden to open it. Inside were 189 vials.

The memo, based on documents and briefings from the US Food and Drug Administration, was prepared by the Republican staff of a House committee holding a hearing Wednesday on the causes of the outbreak and whether it could have been prevented.

They raise questions about why the Massachusetts pharmacy board did not take stronger action against New England Compounding Center, despite having investigated 12 complaints about the company’s practices over a decade and receiving a 2003 warning from the FDA that the pharmacy’s practices could cause “serious public health consequences’’ and should be curtailed.

Staffers of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce also questioned why the FDA itself did not take enforcement action against the pharmacy, especially because some of the complaints involved patients becoming ill from New England Compounding products that were supposed to be sterile but were apparently contaminated with microbes. One of those drugs, methylprednisolone acetate, is the same steroid implicated in the ongoing outbreak.

So far, the crisis has sickened 438 people and killed 32 who contracted a rare form of fungal meningitis from a contaminated steroid made by the pharmacy. The committee has subpoenaed Cadden to testify because he indicated he would not appear voluntarily.

Pharmacy spokesman Andrew Paven said he could not comment on the memo, which cites several instances when Cadden refused to cooperate with investigators and challenged the agency’s authority over his business.

During an inspection in March 2002, Cadden cooperated the first day but then on the second day “had a complete change in attitude [and] basically would not provide any additional information either by responding to questions or providing records. Mr. Cadden challenged FDA jurisdiction/authority to be at his pharmacy,” according to the memo, which cited an FDA report.
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