NECC Appeals Argued in Boston

"< By Walter F. Roche Jr." "Members of a three judge federal appeals court panel today raised repeated questions about the convictions of three former pharmacists who were convicted in the wake of the deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak." "The questions arose in the appeals filed in behalf of the three former pharmacists who were employed by the now defunct New England Compounding Center, the company blamed for the outbreak which ultimately took the lives of more than 100 patients." "The three former pharmacists, Gene Svirskiy, Christopher Leary and Alla Stepanets were convicted on charges ranging from racketeering to mail fraud and violations of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act." "Picking up on arguments raised by Leary's lawyer, Paul Kelly, the panel grilled U.S. Department of Justice Attorney Ross Brandon Goldman, about what evidence was presented in the U.S.District Court case that showed Leary even knew about the marketing materials that were used by NECC's sales force." ""There was no evidence he (Leary) was aware of the marketing materials," Kelly aserted."" "Goldman responded stating that Leary was a licensed pharmacist and would have known that NECC boasted of its compliance with requirements of a national standard for compounding pharmacies." "He noted that evidence showed that Leary allowed NECC drugs to be shipped well before any sterility test results could be completed. While the tests took 14 days, the drugs were shipped two days after they were processed, he said. "The three were among 14 people connected to NECC who were indicted in 2014 following a two year federal probe of NECC and the outbreak. Svirskiy, who is serving a 2.5 year federal prison sentence was convicted on charges of racketeering, conspiracy and mail fraud. Leary was convicted on charges of mail fraud and introducing misbranded or adulterated drugs into interstate commerce. He was sentenced to eight months of home detention. Stepanets was charged with distributing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce and was sentenced to a year of probation. None of the three were charged with producing the drugs that actually caused the 2012 outbreak. The three judge panel questioned Goldman about the Stepanet charges and noted that her lawyer had argued that there was no evidence that she ever saw the phony patient names that were used on NECC's order forms. Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson asked Goldman what evidence there was to show Stepanets knew about the phony names. Goldman cited trial testimony by an official of the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy who told jurors that as a licensed pharmacist Stepanets would be required to verify the existence of a valid patient specific prescription and not a prescription made out for Wonder Woman, as shown during the trial. "They are not valid prescriptions," Goldman said. Contact:wfrochejr999@gmail.com