Senator Bob Corker, (R-Tn.), made the following statement Monday after the Senate passed legislation to make injections of compounded sterile drugs safer. The House passed the bill on Sept. 29.
“The improved oversight included in this legislation will help prevent another deadly meningitis outbreak that infected hundreds of Americans and killed 16 Tennesseans in 2012. I thank Senator Alexander for his leadership on this issue and hope the president will quickly sign these reforms into law,” said Senator Corker.
In 2012, in response to the deadly, nationwide outbreak of fungal meningitis linked to steroid injections distributed by the Massachusetts-based New England Compounding Center (NECC), Senators Corker and Alexander sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg asking for clarity regarding existing laws governing oversight of compounding pharmacies like NECC and information about any inspections of NECC and actions taken since the FDA warned the center in December 2006. A copy of the letter can be found here.