NECC: Blames Mold at Framingham Pharmacy on Janitors

New England Compounding Center, the Framingham specialty pharmacy company linked to the deadly nationwide meningitis outbreak is blaming its cleaning contractor.

Lawyers for New England Compounding Center (NECC) sent a letter to UniFirst’s “Uniclean” business demanding that it take legal responsibility for the claims made against NECC, first reported the Boston Globe.

“This demand relates to the limited, once-a-month cleaning services the Company provided to portions of NECC’s cleanroom facilities,” an SEC filing by UniFirst stated.

Wilmington-based UniFirst issued a statement calling the claims “without merit.”

Federal investigators found widespread evidence of mold and other contamination when they visited New England Compounding in October.

“These services were specified by NECC utilizing NECC’s own defined cleansing solutions, and consisted of two UniClean technicians cleaning approximately 1.5 hours each on a monthly basis,” the statement said.” UniClean was not in any way responsible for NECC’s day-to-day operations, its overall facility cleanliness, or the integrity of the products they produced.”

A week before Christmas, New England Compounding Center filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

The Framingham pharmacy has closed, surrendered its license, and recalled its products.

Since it was first identified that patients who received a steroid injection linked to New England Compounding Center in Framingham were contracting fungal meninitis, 39 people have died and more than 650-plus have been infected. (None of the cases are in Massachusetts.)

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A federal judge has ruled any criminal case against a Framingham specialty pharmacy New England Compounding Center (NECC) would have priority over the numerous civil suits.

Just before Thanksgiving,

Later, NECC recalled every product made and laid off all employees.

Later, CDC and FDA officials confirmed a fungus was found in those recalled steroids and recently, fungus and bacteria were found in other NECC products.

The FDA released a list of customers, who received products from NECC in Framingham on or after May 21.

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Click here to find all of Framingham Patch’s coverage of NECC and the meningitis outbreak.