Committee Schedules Hearing on Deadly Meningitis Outbreak

Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman, Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns, and Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette said, “Our committee has a long, bipartisan history of conducting drug safety oversight.  Since the meningitis outbreak, we have been in close contact with the involved agencies and parties, but many unanswered questions remain.  The NECC has a history of problems, some of which were documented in an FDA warning letter in 2006 – we want to know what went wrong at this facility, the views and actions of its regulators, and what steps can be taken to ensure such an outbreak never happens again.”

The committee launched its bipartisan investigation in October requesting an initial briefing from FDA, CDC, and the New England Compounding Center.  As part of the investigation, the committee has sought documents from the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy, the FDA, and the NECC.