UPDATED: Feds Searching New England Compounding Center

UPDATED 12:05 a.m. with NECC counsel comment

UPDATED: 6:35 p.m. with comment from the U.S. Justice Department

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U.S. Food and Drug Administration officers are at the New England Compounding Center. Federal agents are serving a search warrant to the Framingham specialty pharmacy, linked to the national, deadly meningitis outbreak.

"I can confirm that this office and our law enforcement partners are investigating allegations concerning the New England Compounding Center. I think that it is entirely premature to suggest what the results of the investigation will be," said Christina Sterling, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"It is difficult to understand the purpose of this search, since we have been clear that New England Compounding Center would provide, and has provided, anything requested. We've been clear that warrants weren't needed; asking would have produced the same result. Nevertheless, we continue to offer our cooperation," said Paul R. Cirel, counsel to New England Compounding Center.

Agents with blue jackets bearing the yellow letters “FDA OCI” are going in and out of the brick office building on Waverly Road. The initials stand for the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, reported Boston.com.

New England Compounding Center, a specialty pharmacy on Route 135, has been linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak that has killed 15 patients and infected more than 200 others in 15 states.

The company produced a steroid, injected in the back, to relieve pain, which may have been contaminated with Exserohilum, a fungus that causes meningitis. The type is not contagious.