Pre-Trial Testimony Ends In Outbreak Case

From Donna Borton

Pre-trial testimony ended today in the second degree murder trial of two pharmacists with a key witness detailing the multiple violations routinely observed in a room where sterile and ultimately lethal drugs were being prepared.
Joseph Connelly, who worked as a pharmacy technician at the now defunct New England Compounding Center, said drugs were shipped without testing, cleaning logs were falsified and paint would bubble up on the floor of the room where sterile drugs were being produced.
His testimony came in the final day of testimony in the pre-trial hearing for Glenn Chin and Barry Cadden who are facing 11 counts of second degree murder for their roles in the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak. Both have been present for the two weeks of testimony
Cadden was NECC's president and part owner, while Chin was the supervisor in the clean room which Connolly described for District Court Judge Shauna Murphy.
After opposing briefs are filed by all sides and final arguments presented on March 27, Murphy will decide on April 16 whether the two will be bound over for trial in circuit court.
Connolly who explained why it was critical for sanitary standards to be maintained in a clean room, then testified about the multiple ways things were not right at NECC, a drug compounding firm in Framingham, Mass.
His testimony came as 15 victims of the outbreak and their families and survivors looked on in the Howell, Mich. courtroom. Some have been present for all five sessions.
Describing the bubbling paint on the floor, rusted legs of tables, condensation on the outside of a refrigerator, black liquid oozing from one of the hoods and even regular visits from insects, Connolly said Chin was the supervisor, but not a very good one.
Connolly said he worked in the clean room from 2009 until NECC was shut down by state and federal regulators.
He said during his tenure drugs were sometimes shipped without testing on the same day they were produced, cleaning logs were filled out even though the cleaning never occurred and the atmosphere and behavior in the work area was often inappropriate.
Mistakes were being made, Connolly said, describing the frenzied atmosphere at NECC in 2012 when orders suddenly exploded. He said that efforts to enlist Chin's aid were unsuccessful.
Connolly said that in the Fall of 2012, production was suddenly halted and all hands were told to just start cleaning everything.
Stating that everything was chaotic, Connolly said suddenly drugs were being thrown out.
At a subsequent company-wide meeting Connolly said they were told NECC was temporarily shutting down. He said he later learned from a newscast that five Tennessee patients who had been injected with an NECC steroid had died.
Under cross examination by James Buttrey, Chin's lawyer, Connolly was asked whether any contamination could have come from some other source.
Gerald Gleeson, Cadden's lawyer, asked Connolly if Cadden was actually present in the clean room.
Connolly said he never saw Cadden in the clean room and Chin was his direct supervisor and Cadden was Chin's boss
He also said that when he raised an issue with Chin, Chin would talk to Cadden and then would let him know what Cadden wanted done.
Also testifying Friday was former NECC employee Nicholas Booth, who also worked in the clean room. He testified that he saw cracks and paint chipping on the floors. He said the black liquid dripping from one of the hoods would just be cleaned up at the end of the day. He also testified to the increase in orders, less time spent on cleaning, the priority put on getting the drugs out and the intense cleaning they were told to do one day when they had to stop production.
Booth said he witnessed conversations between Cadden and Chin at the lunch table where they discussed sending out product even though test results had not come back.