FDA releases list of drugs shipped by shuttered Mass. pharmacy

16 of the 64 Ohio facilities are in Dayton, Cincinnati regions


These facililities received medications of some type from New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass. The compounding pharmacy closed earlier this month and has voluntarily recalled all of its products, though only injectable steroids used to treat back and joint pain have been linked to fungal meningitis so far.

  • Bidwell Surgery Center (Listed as Middletown Surgery Center), 5950 Innovation Drive,Franklin
  • Christ Hospital Spine Surgery Center, 4020 Smith Road, Cincinnati
  • Cincinnati Eye Institute,3219 Clifton Ave., Cincinnati
  • Cincinnati Eye Institute,1945 CEI Drive, Blue Ash
  • Cincinnati Pain Management,8261 Cornell Road, Cincinnati
  • Dayton Vitreo-Retinal Associates, 301 W. First St., Dayton
  • Eye Laser and Surgery Center, 4235 Indian Ripple Road, Dayton
  • Eye Services LLC, 671 W. Main St., Wilmington
  • Greater Cincinnati Pain Management, 4243 Hunt Road, Cincinnati
  • Kunesh Eye Center Inc., 2601 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood
  • Medical Weight Management Center, 9050 Montgomery Road, Cincinnati
  • Physicians Healthsource, Inc., 3328 Westbourne Drive, Cincinnati
  • Professional Radiology, 9825 Kenwood Road, Blue Ash
  • Samaritan North Surgery Center, 9000 N. Main St., Dayton
  • SW Ohio ASC 295 N. Breiel Blvd., Middletown
  • Western Hills Interventional Pain, 6460 Harrison Ave, Cincinnati

The Dayton Daily News is looking for patients concerned about their health after receiving steroid injections for back or joint pain because of the risk of fungal meningitis or other infections.

To share your story, please contact reporter Peggy O’Farrell at 937-225-7457 or peggy.ofarrell@coxinc.com.

Patients can check a list released Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administration to determine if they received a medication prepared or shipped by a now-closed compounding pharmacy linked to a nationwide fatal fungal meningitis outbreak.

The list of medications includes 16 providers in the Dayton and Cincinnati regions and nearly 3,000 providers nationally that received everything from prescription painkillers to the dyes used in imaging procedures as well as the tainted steroid linked to the outbreak.

Statewide, 64 facilities, including four pain management clinics in central Ohio and Cincinnati that administered the steroid, purchased drugs and other compounds from the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass.

The FDA re-released the list of the medications purchased by hospitals, doctors offices and surgery centers from the Massachusetts pharmacy. The list was briefly available online Monday, but was pulled offline because of errors in the data.

The 345-page list, available online at http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/DrugSafety/FungalMeningitis/UCM325466.pdf, includes every medication purchased by the facilities since May 21 from the NECC.

Fungal meningitis is very rare, and symptoms can be slow to develop. Symptoms include new or worsening headache, fever, stiff neck and neck pain. CDC officials said at a press conference Wednesday that patients are at greatest risk for developing fungal meningitis in the first six weeks after receiving the spinal injections.

So far, the outbreak, which has killed 24 people and sickened 317 in 17 states, has only been linked to the injectable steroid methylprednisolone acetate, which is administered for back and joint pain. In Ohio, 11 people have developed the infection, including a 52-year-old Warren County man, whose condition has not been released.

Statewide, more than 400 people received the steroid injections; nationally, more than 14,000 people got the shots.

The list of drugs prepared and shipped by NECC runs the gamut from painkillers to chemotherapy agents to dyes used in imaging studies such as CT scans and cardiac angiography, as well as numerous medications used in eye procedures. The list is ordered alphabetically by the name of the facility.

Some of the more commonly listed medications include acetaminophen, which is the generic name for the non-prescription pain medication Tylenol, and triamconolone acetonide, a corticosteroid nasal spray used off-label to treat certain eye disorders.

The FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed fungal contamination in sealed doses of methylprednisolone acetate, as well as in NECC’s facility.

But last week, the FDA asked physicians to follow up with patients who received any injectable drug prepared by NECC for signs of fungal infection, warning doctors that they couldn’t be sure that any medication prepared by the company was sterile.

Patients who have received a medication on the FDA list should remember that injectable drugs are of the most concern at this point, said Bill Wharton, spokesman for Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County. If patients call their doctor or the facility where they received a medication on the FDA list, they should remember that it may take the staff some time to confirm what drug they received, he said. Local health departments are following up with providers who purchased medications from NECC to make sure they’re following up with patients, Wharton said.

Ohio Department of Health officials reminded patients Wednesday that the outbreak is linked to methylprednisolone acetate prepared and shipped on or after May 21. People who received the injectable steroid before that date are at less risk because they would likely have symptoms by now.

The FDA is also investigating whether two other medications — a second injectable steroid and a drug used to paralyze heart muscles during open heart surgery — might also be contaminated with fungus. The CDC is investigating reports of fungal joint infections in people who received the methylprednisolone acetate for joint pain the knee, shoulder or ankle.

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