The CBS Evening News reported “The specialty pharmacy linked to that deadly meningitis outbreak filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today.” NBC Nightly News (12/22, story 7, 0:25, Holt, 7.86M) added that the Framingham, Massachusetts-based specialty pharmacy “is facing 130 lawsuits.”
According to Reuters, the NECC, in documents filed Friday with the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts, indicated it had between $1 million and $10 million in assets and less than $2.34 million in debts. Its biggest unsecured creditor, is McKesson Drug, to which the compounder owes $143,169, according to the bankruptcy filing. Also on Friday, the NECC said it would create a meningitis victims’ compensation fund.
The AP reported that the New England Compounding Center “filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday and said it was seeking to set up a fund to pay victims.” According to the AP, the company “said in its filing that 130 lawsuits have been filed against it and 270 other people have claimed injury from the tainted drugs.”
Bloomberg News adds that NECC issued a statement, saying its “goal is to provide a greater, quicker, fairer payout to its creditors than they could achieve through piecemeal litigation.” Modern Healthcare also covered the story.
From the American Association for Justice news release.
