STATEMENT OF INTERIM COMMISSIONER DR. LAUREN SMITH ON NECC INVESTIGATION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 7, 2012
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Anne Roach (617) 624-5006
STATEMENT OF INTERIM COMMISSIONER DR. LAUREN SMITH ON NECC
INVESTIGATION
BOSTON -- Wednesday, November 07, 2012 – The following is a statement from
Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) Interim Commissioner Dr. Lauren
Smith:
Today I am announcing a development in our ongoing investigation into NECC and
administrative changes at the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy. These personnel actions
stem from troubling information that has come to light during our ongoing review of the
Board’s oversight of NECC.
We have discovered a Colorado Board of Pharmacy complaint against NECC, which was
forwarded to James D. Coffey, Director of the Massachusetts Board of Pharma cy, on July
26, 2012.
The information shared by Colorado showed that NECC had distributed manufactured
drugs to many hospitals in that state between 2010 and 2012 without patient -specific
prescriptions, in violation of NECC’s Colorado and Massachusetts l icenses. The
Colorado Board of Pharmacy contacted the FDA who confirmed that NECC was not a
licensed manufacturer.
As seen in the attached documents, this information was provided in detail by Colorado
to Mr. Coffey in July, which he then forwarded to Boa rd attorney Susan Manning and
Board inspectors. The director of the Board is responsible for ordering investigations. Mr.
Coffey failed to order an investigation or take any other action on the Colorado
complaint.
It is incomprehensible that Mr. Coffey and Ms. Manning did not act on the Colorado
complaint given NECC’s past, and their responsibility to investigate complaints.
Following the outbreak, staff also failed to disclose the existence of Colorado’s complaint
to leadership at DPH.
As a result of these findings, we have terminated James Coffey and placed Susan
Manning, a member of a bargaining unit, on administrative leave pending the final
conclusions of our investigation. We have identified highly qualified individuals to fill
these positions and the important work of the agency will continue with even greater
resolve at this critical juncture.
There is no evidence at this time that staff informed Board members about the Colorado
issues.
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