Mass. board OKs emergency regs for pharmacies

BOSTON (AP) - A state board is setting new rules for compounding pharmacies in the wake of a deadly U.S. outbreak of fungal meningitis linked to a specialty pharmacy in Framingham.

The Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy on Thursday approved emergency regulations which, among other things, will require Massachusetts pharmacies to submit reports twice annually to prove they are not acting as manufacturers.

Pharmacies would be required to sign, under penalty of perjury, affidavits that they are only mixing and dispensing prescriptions for individual patients.

Massachusetts officials have previously said New England Compounding Center violated its license by distributing drugs in batches as a manufacturer would.

The new regulations would also require pharmacies to report any disciplinary actions by any other states or the federal government, and stiffens penalties for breaking the rules.

Cox Media Group