Drugs/Therapy

Pharmacist Convicted Of Federal Charges On Fungal Meningitis Outbreak 2012 [VIDEO]

By Alleah Kiamco | Update Date: Mar 23, 2017 11:28 AM EDT

Barry Cadden, a pharmacist and the co-owner of the New England Compounding Center has been sentenced with dozens of federal charges but is acquitted of murder following the 2012 nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak that killed 64 patients.

Cadden is convicted of racketeering conspiracy, racketeering, an introduction of misbranded drugs into States of commerce with the intent to defraud and mislead and mail fraud, the CNN reports.

The jury in the trial had a mixed verdict just last Wednesday. Cadden was acquitted of 25 counts of second-degree murder despite having affected 700 people in 20 U.S. States with fungal meningitis and other infections after receiving medication that is contaminated in 2012. It was, by far, the deadliest meningitis outbreak in the U.S. history with 64 lives lost.

A majority of the jurors voted to convict the pharmacist of 23-25 murder charges but a unanimous decision could not be reached so Cadden was spared of a life sentence, the Fierce Pharma said in an article.

In 2012, the New England Compounding Center used fake prescriptions and fictional celebrity names such as Diana Ross and Michael Jackson to dispense and distribute drugs. Cadden gave the go signal and authorized the shipping of the drugs even though it was not still confirmed as sterile. The compounding center also used expired ingredients and has not followed the guidelines with sterilization, cleaning and other safety medical regulations.

Bruce Singal, Cadden's lead attorney said that their side really doesn't know what the jury was thinking but for them, the thing that they were most concerned about and the most important were the announcements of the murder counts.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, sentencing would be given by Richard Stearns, the U.S. District Court Judge on June 21 this year. The pharmacist faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on each of the racketeering counts and mail fraud.

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