Thursday, September 11, 2014

Pharmacist tied to outbreak a 'scapegoat,' lawyer says - Boston Globe

A pharmacist from the Massachusetts company linked to tainted drugs that killed 64 people fears that federal prosecutors have chosen him to be the “scapegoat’’ for the medical disaster, his attorney said today.



Glenn Adam Chin was arraigned today in US District Court on a one-count mail fraud indictment stemming from the investigation into the New England Compounding Center, where the tainted prescription drugs were allegedly made and then shipped across the country.



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<a id="skip-target1"/> US Attorney Carmen Ortiz’s office and the Justice Department’s consumer protection branch have been investigating NECC since a nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak began in fall 2012. Prosecutors said 751 patients fell ill after receiving contaminated medicine, and 64 of them died.



Chin, who authorities allege was a supervising pharmacist at an NECC lab where some of the tainted drugs were created, is the only person facing criminal charges. His attorney, Stephen J. Weymouth, said Chin fears he has been chosen to bear the punishment for all those involved.



“He fears the US government is trying to make him a scapegoat out of this,’’ said Weymouth, who was temporarily appointed to represent Chin, pending a review of Chin’s financial status. “I am sure that someone needs to be blamed, but I am not sure it is him.’’



<a class="bg-related__link--primary" href="http://ift.tt/X2eKAR; Pharmacist arrested at Logan



Glenn Adam Chin, a supervising pharmacist at the New England Compounding Center, was trying to board a plane to Hong Kong, officials said.







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Chin was arrested at Logan International Airport in Boston last Thursday as he and his family prepared to board a plane for a trip to Hong Kong. Weymouth said Chin was not trying to flee the country, but was traveling with his grandmother, wife, and their two children, ages 2 and 6, for a vacation.



Weymouth said Chin had a roundtrip ticket, and noted that the rest of his family flew to Hong Kong after Chin was taken into custody. “He had documentation showing he was going to Hong Kong,’’ Weymouth said. “It was a return trip.’’



Weymouth said Chin has been out of work for months, dating back to when the tainted drugs were traced back to NECC. “He’s nervous. He’s anxious,’’ Weymouth said. “He’s depressed. He’s confused. He doesn’t know what is going to happen.’’



Chin, a Canton resident, was released today on $50,000 unsecured bond. He is under house arrest and has agreed to both surrender his passport and wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. Weymouth said he may seek to change bail conditions in coming weeks.



Prosecutors said if convicted, Chin faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.



According to the criminal complaint filed last week by Benedict Celso, a special agent for the Food and Drug Administration, Chin supervised four pharmacists and 10 pharmacy technicians in so-called “clean rooms,” and was personally responsible for compounding steroid stock solutions.



Chin was in charge on June 29, 2012, when one batch of methylprednisolone acetate was made. Chin, the federal complaint alleges, “directed that filled vials be sent out of the clean room for shipment to NECC customers.’’



On Aug. 7, 2012, Michigan Pain Specialists in Brighton, Mich., ordered 400 vials of the material, the complaint alleged. New England Compounding sent the requested vials, each of which included the abbreviation for “injectable’’ on the label, indicating the medicine “was sterile and fit for human use,” the complaint said.



Over the next two months, doctors at the Michigan clinic injected 625 patients with the compound, the complaint alleges. After receiving the injections, 217 patients contracted fungal infections; 15 of them died, according to the complaint.



Milton J. Valencia can be reached at mvalencia@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @miltonvalencia.John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.






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