Congressman Mike Rogers is calling for more federal oversight to protect patients from contaminated drugs. The new report from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health outlines what federal investigators are focusing on as they try to figure out how the New England Compounding Center was able to sell contaminated drugs.
"People lost their lives. Someone will be held accountable for this and it will be a thorough investigation. And if there is criminal charges to be brought, they will," said Republican Congressman Mike Rogers.
The FDA has released a list of customers who bought products from the New England Compounding Center since May of this year. 73 pages with more than 350 health care providers, including Sparrow Hospital and Ingham Regional Medical Center--a clear indication the company was not operating under the terms of it's state license as a compounding pharmacy. Instead, operating more like a manufacturer.
Now Congressman Rogers is calling for changes in how the Food and Drug Administration regulates compounded drugs.
"These are different ingredients basically that are compounded together after each ingredient is already approved by the FDA. So it gets into this gray area so it's very clear to me that we're going to have to make very clear and probably in legislation to fix that problem," Rogers says.
"It makes the entire industry look bad. Adding more regulations on top of regulations that are, may not necessarily be the best thing for a business environment if they don't provide any more security over what was missed in the first place," said Karen Jones with the Michigan Pharmacists Association.
