Republicans grill FDA chief on meningitis outbreak

AAA  14 Nov. 2012 12:35 PM ET By MATTHEW PERRONE, AP Health Writer  WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican lawmakers challenged the country's top medical regulator Wednesday to explain why her agency did not take action sooner against the specialty pharmacy at the center of a deadly meningitis outbreak. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has convened the first hearing to examine the outbreak that has sickened about 440 people and caused 32 deaths across the U.S. The illness has been tied to the New England Compounding Center, which distributed pain steroids that later tested positive for contamination. Health officials say as many as 14,000 people received the steroid shots, mostly for back pain. Continue reading here