LATHAM - Officials in Massachusetts continue to investigate the compounding pharmacy that has been linked to the outbreak of fungal meningitis.
Investigators said that the contaminated steroid injections came from the New England Compounding Center.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms 11 people have died as a result of that outbreak, and 119 others have gotten sick.
Many people rely on these specialized pharmacies, which customize versions of medicines that would otherwise not be available to patients.
NEWS10 spoke with Fallon's Wellness Pharmacy in Latham, a compounding pharmacy about the precautions they take to ensure such an outbreak doesn't occur in their facility.
"Without it they wouldn't receive medications, so you're increasing compliance, you're increasing availability for these patients to have something to use," Erika Fallon, the Supervising Pharmacist at Fallon's said.
Fallon explained what's involved in sterile compounding, which is the process officials said the New England Compounding Center used. Fallon explained what's behind the pressurized chamber they work in.
"The whole idea of this room is or reduce the number of particles, room by room, so the room in the middle will have less particles than the room out here and this room will have fewer particles than this one. Bacteria live on particles, fungus live on particles," Fallon said.
The outbreak has prompted some lawmakers and activists to call for more oversight on these specialized pharmacies. Peter Fallon, the owner of Fallon's, though was quick to point out how large the New England Compounding Center is. He said it was not intended to be the case and it led to additional hazards.
"They became like a manufacturer in that they were promoting something that they were compounding but they were compounding in mass and they weren't requiring a prescription for it," Peter Fallon said.
Peter Fallon said he expected that new, stricter regulations would follow this outbreak. In the meantime, he advises patients to seek out a compounding pharmacy that's been certified by the Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board. Fallon already adheres to it and it requires higher standards.
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