NECC owner gets 9 years in prison
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The former home of New England Compounding Center on Waverly Street in Framingham.
The owner and head pharmacist of New England Compounding Center was sentenced to nine years in prison on Monday, five years after he orchestrated a public health crisis leaving hundreds of patients sick and dozens dead.
Barry Cadden, 50, of Waltham was found guilty by a federal jury in March of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, and introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud and mislead. In addition to nine years in prison, Cadden received three years of supervised release and forfeiture and restitution as part of his sentence.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston, Cadden allowed contaminated preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate to be shipped to customers across the country. He would ship out doses before they were confirmed to be sterile and never told customers about nonsterile results. Certain batches of drugs were manufactured in part by an unlicensed pharmacy technician at NECC, which was based in Framingham.
As a result, in 2012, 753 patients in 20 states were diagnosed with a fungal infection after being injected with the MPA manufactured by NECC. Out of those 753 patients, 64 patients in nine states died, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cadden repeatedly took steps to hide his criminal activity by claiming to be a pharmacy dispensing drugs pursuant to valid, patient-specific prescriptions. He even went so far as to use fictional and celebrity names on fake prescriptions to dispense drugs, like “Diana Ross” and “Michael Jackson.”
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