A pharmacist who oversaw the cleaning of rooms where drugs responsible for a deadly meningitis outbreak were compounded has been arrested while trying to board a flight to Hong Kong.
Glenn Adam Chin, 42, allegedly concealed unsafe practices and didn’t properly sterilise equipment at the New England Compounding Centre, Massachusetts. The facility has been blamed for causing an outbreak of fungal meningitis in 2012 that killed 64 people and infected hundreds of others in 20 different states.
Chin was reportedly involved with preparing the contaminated methylprednisolone acetate (MPA) drug and fraudulently labelling it as safe for injection. When it was used by Michigan Pain Specialists doctors, however, 217 patients contracted meningitis and 15 died.
The New England Compounding Centre, which was found to be harbouring standing water, dirty equipment and mold when it was later inspected by regulators, has since given up its licence and filed for bankruptcy after being flooded with lawsuits.
Chin, who is the first person to be arrested in part of what prosecutors say is a larger criminal investigation, was apprehended at Logan International Airport on Thursday.
He claims he was planning to visit his wife’s native Hong Kong for a wedding, and was not trying to flee the country.
He has been charged with one count of mail fraud, according to the Providence Journal. The case continues.
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