By Walter F. Roche Jr.
Citing his key role in the conviction of his former colleagues, government prosecutors are recomending that the sales director of a defunct drug company which caused a deadly fungal meningitis, get no jail time.
In a seven page filing in the U.S. District Court in Boston, federal prosecutors said Robert A. Ronzio provided "subtantial assistance" in exposing what realy happened at the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass. The proposed sentence also calls for a $100 fine
The out break ultimately caused 100 deaths when patients were injected with a steroid laden with deadly fungi. Over 700 additional patients were sickened.
Ronzio was the national sales director at NECC and, but for a departure from sentencing guidelines, could get a sentence of up to 18 months.
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Citing Ronzio's guilty plea to the charge of conspiring to deceive the U.s. Food and Drug Administration, prosecutors said Ronzio gave "substantial assistance" by providing testimony in three trials of his former NECC colleagues.
Stating that Ronzio provided "truthful and reliable" testimony, the brief states that Ronzio accepted responsibility for his criminal actions.
According to prosecutors Ronzio and other key NECC employees conspired to convince regulators that NECC was a small family owned company providing drugs only with patient specific prescriptions.
In fact NECC was mass producing drugs and acting as a manufacturer without patient specific prescriptions. Drug manufacturers are subject to stricter FDA regulation.
Records show that while awaiting trial, Ronzio, with goverment approval, went to work for a Florida drug compounding company.
Contact: wfrochejr@gmail.com
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