UPDATE: Agreement Could Create $100 Million Fund For Meningitis Victims

Note: Originally posted on Dec. 23 and updated on Dec. 24.

***

Owners and insurers of a now-bankrupt Framingham compounding pharmacy, linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak, have agreed to pay more than $100 million to compensate victims, families of victims and creditors, reported Reuters.

The deal, which still needs to be finalized and approved by the US Bankruptcy Court, offers hope that many people who received tainted steroid injections made by New England Compounding Center (NECC) last year could begin receiving initial payments for their pain and medical expenses, reported Boston.com

“We are working very hard to expedite this process and get money to victims,” said Paul Moore, the bankruptcy trustee who helped negotiate the deal told Boston.com. “This is a first step, although a significant one.”.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 64 people died and 751 were sickened in 20 U.S. states by injections of methylprednisolone acetate, a drug typically used to ease back pain.

The outbreak occurred after NECC, located in Framingham, shipped tainted vials of the steroid to medical facilities throughout the United States.

NECC filed for bankruptcy last year days before Christmas, just two months after shutting down post the national outbreak. The owners denied liability or wrongdoing.

About $25 million of the settlement is expected to come from two insurance companies, Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Co. and Maxum Indemnity Co.