2021 Leaves Victims With Questions Unanswered

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

As another year comes to a close, key questions remain unanswered for victims and perpetrators of a deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.
Barry Cadden and Glenn Chin have yet to learn if they are likely to spend the rest of their lives in prison. Both have appealed a Michigan ruling that they must stand trial on 11 counts of second degree murder.
Victims of the outbreak and their survivors also are awaiting the outcome of the Chin and Cadden Michigan murder charges. The charges stem from the deaths of 11 patients who were injected with contaminated steroids, produced at a drug compounding firm where the two played key roles.
Victims also are anxious to know when or if the $82 million restitution order will ever be fully enforced. Most involved in the case concede it is unlikely the full $82 million will ever be distributed to the 379 victims.
Cadden and Chin, as a result of the same federal appeals court ruling, had their sentences boosted, Cadden now faces a 15.5 year federal sentence while Chin's was increased to 10.5 years.
During the year victims did get the final $11.5 million distribution from the settlement of related civil litigation.
A federal appeals court meanwhile reversed the acquittal of two other employees of the New England Compounding Center, the compounding drug company where Cadden was president and part owner.
Gregory Conigliaro and Sharon Carter were convicted of conspiring to defraud the federal government.
Another defendant Gene Svirskiy finished his sentence in 2021 and was released. Svirskiy, court documents show, plans to resume working in another compounding pharmacy, part owned by a member of the Massachusetts board which regulates pharmacists.
A company formed by Gregory Conigliaro, meanwhile, purchased a Cape Cod seaside house for $3 million.
Cadden's Wrentham Mass. house, which had been seized by the federal government, was sold off at auction for $1.3 milllion.
Another defendant, Robert Ronzio, who cut a deal with federal prosecutors and became their star witness, has had his sentencing hearing delayed and delayed. The session is now scheduled for Feb. 8 of next year.
Ronzio was head of sales at NECC and gave extensive testimony about the company's operations. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to defraud the federal government,
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