Ex-Compounding Pharmacy Exec Acquitted Of Murder Allegations In Meningitis Outbreak
Barry J. Cadden, the former co-owner and head pharmacist at the New England Compounding Center, was found guilty by jurors of fraud and racketeering. Fungus-tainted drugs from the facility killed 64 people and sickened hundreds more across the country.
Boston Globe:
Jury Reaches Verdict In New England Compounding Center Trial
The former co-owner and head pharmacist at a Framingham company that shipped tainted drugs across the country, causing more than 60 deaths and hundreds of illnesses, was convicted of fraud and racketeering Wednesday, though a federal jury refused to brand him a murderer. Barry J. Cadden, who jurors found had run New England Compounding Center like a criminal enterprise, could serve several years in prison. But the jury’s verdict spared him from a life sentence in one of the worst pharmaceutical scandals in US history. (Valencia and Lazar, 3/22)
The Associated Press:
Ex-Pharmacy Exec Convicted In Deadly Meningitis Outbreak
The former head of a Massachusetts pharmacy was acquitted Wednesday of murder allegations but convicted of racketeering and other crimes in a meningitis outbreak that was traced to fungus-contaminated drugs and killed 64 people across the country. Prosecutors said Barry Cadden, 50, ran the business in an ‘‘extraordinarily dangerous’’ way by disregarding unsanitary conditions to boost production and make more money. (Lavoie, 3/22)
WBUR:
Mixed Verdicts In NECC Trial
The former co-owner of the New England Compounding Center, the pharmaceutical company at the center of a meningitis outbreak in 2012, has been found not guilty on the most serious charges in that trial but convicted of other charges. Barry Cadden was charged with murder, racketeering and fraud in relation to the 2012 nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people and sickened nearly 700. A Boston federal jury today found Cadden not guilty of second degree murder, and guilty on more than 50 other lesser counts. (Chakrabart, Sundt and McNerney, 3/22)
NPR:
Jury Reaches Verdict In New England Compounding Pharmacy Trial
The head of a New England compounding pharmacy that produced tainted drugs was found not guilty of second degree murder but guilty on other charges. At least 25 patients died, and many others got sick. (Emanuel, 3/22)