Jury selection is set to begin in the murder trial of a former top executive at a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy that has been blamed for a national meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people in 2012.
Barry Cadden is charged with 25 counts of murder and other offenses under federal racketeering laws. He is the co-founder and former head pharmacist of New England Compounding Center in Framingham.
Federal prosecutors allege that the center used expired ingredients and failed to follow industry cleanliness standards, resulting in tainted steroid injections. Hundreds across the country were sickened with fungal meningitis in the fall of 2012.
Cadden has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer has said that prosecutors overreached in charged him with causing deaths.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Wednesday in U.S. District Court.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Shouldn’t the heads of the government and state agencies that are to oversee these people to make sure they are within the law and up to specs be up on charges too?
State inspections are performed as mandated by state regulations in compliance with Departement of Professional Regulation. The Pharmacist maintains a Pharmacy practice license and well as a license for the compounding pharmacy. This practioner was blatantly unscrupulous and will hopefully be held accountable and lose their license permanently.