Tuesday, November 20, 2012
At stake are $461 million in assets belonging to New England Compounding Center, its owners and related companies. Patients at clinics in Shakopee, Fridley, Edina and Maple Grove have been sickened in a 19-state outbreak that started with steroids made at
A federal judge in Boston was set to hear arguments today, Nov. 20, on whether to freeze nearly $500 million in assets, including luxury homes, related to New England Compounding Center, the Massachusetts specialty pharmacy linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak, reported Reuters. U.S. District Judge Dennis Saylor has ordered an expedited hearing to determine whether to freeze at least $461 million in assets belonging to New England Compounding Center, its owners and two related companies, according to court records. Saylor did not rule immediately Tuesday, according the Associated Press. 34 Deaths So Far The fungal meningitis outbreak, linked to New England Compounding Center on Waverly Street in Framinghan, has killed 34 patients and …
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
The woman in her 60s is the latest case in the state from an outbreak that has caused 28 deaths nationwide.
A woman in her 60s is Minnesota’s tenth case of fungal meningitis, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Previous cases include two men in their 50s and 60s and women who ranged in age from their 20s to 70s. The fungal meningitis outbreak has been blamed on tainted steroids from New England Compounding Center (NECC), a pharmacy in Framingham, MA. Six clinics in Minnesota used the medication: The U.S. Federal Drug Administration is investigating other products from the pharmacy. Over 100 facilities in Minnesota received shipments from the NECC including in the cities of: Minneapolis, St. Paul, Burnsville, Eagan, Northfield, Shakopee, Woodbury, Inver Grove Heights, Stillwater, Maple Grove, Apple Valley, Edina, Plymouth, Fridley. …
Saturday, October 27, 2012
The New England Compounding Center (NECC) sent tainted steroids to clinics in Fridley, Edina, Maple Grove and Shakopee, sickening 9 Minnesotans in national outbreak.
"Greenish black foreign matter" and other signs of contamination at the Massachusetts pharmacy blamed in a fungal meningitis outbreak are documented in a report the U.S. Federal Drug Administration released Friday. Read the FDA's Form 483 on the New England Compounding Center (NECC) in Framingham, MA above. Nine people in Minnesota have contracted fungal meningitis after receiving tainted steroid shots produced at NECC. Six Minnesota clinics administered the steroids: Medical Advanced Pain Specialists (MAPS) in Edina, Fridley, Shakopee and Maple Grove; and Minnesota Surgery Center (MSC) in Edina and Maple Grove. NECC also shipped other medicines that federal agencies have so far not implicated in the outbreak to more than 100 other clinics…
Thursday, October 25, 2012
The FDA said the pharmacy that started the outbreak shipped products to the hospital in Fridley—but not steroids known to cause the infection.
The pharmacy at the center of a national fungal meningitis outbreak shipped products to Unity Hospital in Fridley, according to the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA). The products were not the injectible steroids that the FDA blames for causing the infections that has killed 24 people in 18 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The FDA said it was alerting all customers of the New England Compounding Center (NECC) of Framingham, MA out of "an abundance of caution." It's the second Fridley facility identified as having received NECC products. Medical Advanced Pain Specialists (MAPS), next door to Unity Hospital, is one of six clinics in Minnesota that administered what turned out to be tainted NECC …
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Unity Hospital
550 Osborne Rd NE, Minneapolis, MN
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One patient is in his 60s, the other in his 50s. The infection is tied to steroids used at clinics in Fridley, Edina, Shakopee and Maple Grove.
A Minnesota man in his 60s and another in his 50s have come down with the state's eighth and ninth cases of fungal meningitis, the Minnesota Department of Health announced Thursday afternoon. Women ranging in age from their 20s to their 70s have accounted for six of Minnesota's nine cases. Federal agencies have linked the rare infection to steroids produced at a now-closed compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts and used at six clinics in Minnesota: The outbreak is now in 18 states and has killed 24 people. Minnesota is one of 11 states where people have come down with the infection but no one has died. Fungal meningitis is different from the more common bacterial and viral forms of meningitis and is not spread person-to-person. More:
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Now infected are another woman in her 40s and the state's first male, in his 50s, to get the infection. Both received steroids for back pain at Twin Cities clinics.
Updated (with latest national tally of fatalities): Two more people in Minnesota now have fungal meningitis amidst an outbreak that has killed 19 people in the United States. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) reported the state's sixth and seventh cases of the rare infection Wednesday morning. The first five patients in Minnesota were women ranging in age from their 20s to their 70s. The new cases were another woman in her 40s and a man in his 50s, the Star Tribune reported. No one in Minnesota has died. Fungal meningitis is distinct from viral or bacterial meningitis and is not spread person-to-person. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has tied a Massachusetts pharmacy's steroids to the outbreak. On Tuesday, the …
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Steroids for back pain may not be the only contaminated medications. The MN Dept. of Health said many clinics were customers of NECC, the implicated pharmacy in MA.
Update (3:30 p.m. Tuesday: The Minnesota Department of Health is contacting 129 clinics that received medications from the Massachusetts pharmacy blamed in the 15-state outbreak of fungal meningitis that has taken 15 lives in other states. The agency's action comes a day after the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) announced an investigation of other products of the New England Compounding Center, where steroids blamed in the outbreak so far were made. The state Health Department said in a news release Tuesday afternoon that the number of patients in Minnesota who got the potentially tainted drug treatments is unknown. Original post (8 a.m. Tuesday): Many more Minnesota clinics and patients may soon find themselves involved in the 15-…
Monday, October 15, 2012
The MN Department of Health hasn't said where the five infected patients live, but the clinics where more than 800 people in MN got tainted steroid shots are in Fridley, Edina, Maple Grove and Shakopee.
Minnesota has its fifth case of fungal meningitis, the Minnesota Department of Health announced Monday morning. The new case is a woman in her 20s, said Doug Schutz, MDH spokesperson. That makes her the youngest person to get the infection in the state so far. On Oct. 13, the agency said a woman in her 70s was the latest to come down with fungal meningitis, which is not spread person-to-person. Minnesota's first three patients to get the infection were all women in their 40s, the MDH said, and two were well enough to leave the hospital last week. Schutz said the MDH does not attach any special significance to the ages of those infected so far. They have in common that they sought treatment for back pain, which can strike people of any age…
Saturday, October 13, 2012
The MN Department of Health said she is a woman in her 70s. The outbreak tied to tainted steroids used at clinics in in Fridley, Shakopee, Maple Grove and Edina has killed 15 in other states.
Updated below. A fourth person in Minnesota has fungal meningitis, the state Health Department announced Saturday. She is a woman in her 70s, in a hospital and receiving treatment, according to Doug Schultz, MDH spokesperson, who said the MDH isn't releasing more information about her. "Every case is different," Schultz said. "Many tend to be fairly complicated," he added, because the four were being treated for pain for other medical reasons besides fungal meningitis infection, which he called "so rare." The first three cases in Minnesota were all women in their 40s. An outbreak tied to tainted steroid injections in 12 states has killed 15 people and infected nearly 200 others, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. …
Thursday, October 11, 2012
One infected Minnesotan remains hospitalized in outbreak that has now killed 14 in U.S.
The outbreak of fungal meningitis in Minnesota moved to the courts Thursday when a woman who received tainted steroid shots file suit in federal court, according to WCCO. Barbe Puro of Savage is seeking damages for injuries and the formation of a class of injured people in the state, WCCO said. Her medical future is uncertain and she underwent a spinal tap in response to the potential infection. MPR reported Thursday that two of the three Minnesotans that were confirmed to have the fungal meningitis infection have left the hospital. The third remains hospitalized. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of people in the United States who have died in the outbreak is 14 as of Thursday afternoon. One hundred …
Sandy BOE
10:32 am on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
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