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Company owned by the people who own that fungus-infected pharmacy sues infected people before they can sue it

By adamg on Sat, 01/26/2013 - 4:28pm

Alaunus Pharmaceutical, a Framingham drug wholesaler with the same owners as the shuttered New England Compounding Center, yesterday sued Michigan residents who say they or family members suffered fungal meningitis from a pain reliever sold by New England Compounding Center.

In the lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Boston, Alaunus says it had nothing to do with the spore-laden drugs sold by NECC and that those 49 people should just leave it the hell alone.

The lawsuit seeks a ruling by the court that it had nothing to do with anybody's fungal meningitis:

Alaunus does not compound, market, sell, offer for sale, or distribute methylprednisolone acetate or any other drug or compound which has been identified by the FDA, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or any other regulatory or investigative entity as a potential cause of the fungal meningitis outbreak. ... Despite the lack of any evidence indicating Alaunus's liability, it has been forced at great expense to engage counsel and defend itself in states throughout the country.

The company adds that in the specific case, in which a lawyer for the 49 sent the company a letter that seems to indicate a suit is in the works, "Such an action would be frivolous and advanced in bad faith by Plaintiffs, but would cause defendant significant time and expense to defend."

The company agreed to shut down as part of a state and federal investigation.

Neighborhoods: 
Framingham
Free tagging: 
Lawsuits
NECC
AttachmentSize
PDF icon Alaunus complaint0 bytes
PDF icon Letter to Alaunus0 bytes


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Comments

By eeka on Sat, 01/26/2013 - 10:02pm.

What?

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By Meg W on Sat, 01/26/2013 - 11:00pm.

For things like this, do you think you could post your source? Just because I'd like to read more!

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By adamg on Sat, 01/26/2013 - 11:06pm.

I thought I did attach them, but guess not. In any case, the original post should now have two files to download: A copy of the Alaunus complaint and a copy of the letter by the Michigan residents' lawyer to the company.

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By Meg W on Sat, 01/26/2013 - 11:09pm.

whoa!! thanks for the quick response. I'm in a drug regulatory program right now so I've been nerding out over this whole horrible thing

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By Anonymous on Sun, 01/27/2013 - 1:54pm.

I'm very interested in this for a lot of reasons;

  • 24 people died, and hundreds more got sick as hell
  • It was an epidemic that was a direct result of product safety issue at compounding pharmacies that have a different regulatory system than other pharmacies.
  • The four owners quickly paid themselves $16 million before declaring bankruptcy to shield value of their company from injured parties.
  • They have million dollar homes, 4 or 5, in lovely locations all over the Commonwealth.
  • Scott Brown got a $10,000 campaign donation from them and went to bat for them regarding a regulatory issue they wanted him to help with. He returned that money but kept the money they helped him raise at a fundraiser at one of the homes.
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