Six months after a U.S. meningitis outbreak that killed 51 people put the spotlight on their industry, specialty pharmacies that mix their own drugs are falling short of federal safety and sanitation requirements.
Since the deaths, the Food and Drug Administration has uncovered a wide range of shortcomings at so-called compounding pharmacies, including failure to set or follow procedures to prevent contamination, inappropriate protection worn by people working in sanitary areas and inadequate testing to determine expiration dates, a review of 30 inspection reports shows.
