CNN
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The former co-owner of a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts was sentenced Thursday in what authorities say he was involved in in the deadly multi-state 2012 outbreak of fungal meningitis.
Gregory Conigliaro, 57, was sentenced to one year in prison and one year of supervised release in Boston U.S. District Court after a jury convicted him of conspiracy to defraud the United States in 2018. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts said.
Conigliaro was co-owner, vice president and general manager of the now-defunct New England Compounding Center, which authorities say was behind the outbreak.
In 2012, nearly 800 people in 20 states were diagnosed with fungal meningitis or other fungal infections after receiving injections from contaminated vials made by NECC, U.S. Attorney’s Office says.
The drug is methylprednisolone acetate without preservatives, Steroid. More than 100 patients died, making it the largest public health crisis caused by the drug, According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors say Conigliaro conspired with a co-owner — the company’s chief pharmacist — to misrepresent the company’s operating procedures to the FDA and state boards of pharmacy registration.
The company lied to the FDA and state boards that compounding pharmacies only filled patient-specific prescriptions, “while in reality, NECC has been bulk-packing drugs across the country and evading oversight for more than a decade,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Through this deception, the company was able to “operate in a sloppy, unsafe manner that ultimately led to an unfortunate outbreak of fungal meningitis,” the office said.
CNN reached out to Conigliaro’s attorney but did not immediately receive a response.
Chief Pharmacist Barry Cadden is Sentenced Sentenced to nine years in prison in 2017 for racketeering, conspiracy to racketeer, mail fraud and introducing mislabeled pharmaceuticals into interstate commerce with intent to defraud and mislead.
Several other owners, employees and associates of the pharmacy also facing charges.