Grant Funds Used for Administrative Costs

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Massachusetts officials have issued more detailed data on a $40 million grant earmarked for victims of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak and they shown a little over a half million dollars went to administrative costs.
The numbers from the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office show $508,324 went for such expenses as salaries of staffers, software and other office supplies.
According to aides to Attorney General Maura Healey, the agency could have used up to $2 million for administrative costs under general federal grant rules which cap administrative costs at five per cent of a grant total.
In addition the new data show a total of $23,975,000 went to 672 outbreak victims. That left a balance of $15,516,675 which had to be returned to the U.S. Justice Department. The new numbers are slightly higher than first reported. Initially the number of grant recipients was reported as 642.
The grant program ended in September.
The grants were awarded under a program that makes crime victims eligible for grants ranging from $25,000 to $50,000.
The criminal investigation of the 2012 outbreak resulted in the indictment of 14 persons connected with the New England Compounding Center, which produced the deadly drugs.
Three of the 14 were eventually cleared of the charges ranging from racketeering to conspiracy and violations of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act.
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Meningitis Outbreak Victims Fund Closed

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A federally funded program to aid victims of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak has ended and some $15 million in unspent funds have been returned to the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ).
The fund, which was administered by the Massachusetts Attorney General's office, issued 642 grants to outbreak victims or their survivors, according to aides to Attorney General Maura T. Healey. A total of more than $23 million was distributed.
The funds were allocated from a federal fund established to benefit crime victims.
The funds were secured largely through the efforts of former Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop, whose Michigan district was the home for a large number of victims.
Healey aides said that under its agreement with the DOJ funds unspent by Sept. 30 of last year had to be returned. Those eligible for the grants were victims and survivors included on a list compiled by DOJ during the criminal investigation of the outbreak.
The program closed on September 30 and the attorney general was unable to take any additional applications or make any additional payments beyond that date, according to a Healey aide.
Grants to victims on the DOJ list were eligible for $25,000 grants while victims who suffered permanent impairments and survivors of victims who died in the outbreak were eligible for another $25,000.
The drugs which sickened the victims in 20 states came from the New England Compounding Center. Three former NECC officials are currently serving federal prison sentences following their conviction on racketeering and mail fraud charges.
NECC's former president and part owner Barry J. Cadden and supervising pharmacist Glenn Chin are also facing second degree murder charges in Michigan. Their case is scheduled to resume next month in Livingston County District Court.
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NECC RXs Face License Probe

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A Massachusetts licensing board will be opening complaint investigations this week against the two remaining pharmacists who were indicted and convicted as a result of a federal probe of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.
The action against Kathy Chin and Michele Robinson is being taken by the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy which is scheduled to meet on Thursday.
The two were employed by the New England Compounding Center the company blamed for the outbreak.
Although neither of the two were involved with making the drugs that killed dozens of patients, they were convicted of violations of the federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act when they approved for shipment drugs prescribed for obviously fake named patients.
Chin was convicted of four counts of violating the federal statute, while Robinson was convicted on two counts. Chin was recently sentenced to two years of probation while Robinson got a one year probation sentence. Jurors also found that the two committed the violations with intent to defraud or deceive,
The state licensing board already has initiated complaints against three other NECC defendants, Gene Svirskiy, Christopher Leary and Alla Stepanets. Those complaints remain under investigation
A complaint against another NECC employee, Sharon Carter, was dismissed because she was cleared on appeal of the federal criminal charges by U.S.District Judge Richard G. Stearns.
Svirskiy is currently serving a 30 month sentence at the federal prison in Ayer, Mass. Leary was sentenced to two years of probation with the first eight months under house arrest.
Chin's spouse, Glenn Chin, is already serving an eight year federal prison sentence and Barry Cadden, NECC's president and part owner is serving a nine year sentence. They were convicted on racketeering, conspiracy and mail fraud charges. They surrendered their state pharmacy licenses.
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