New England Compounding Center co-owner sentenced in long-running death investigation
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The former home of New England Compounding Center on Waverly Street in Framingham
A former co-owner of the Framingham based New England Compounding Center was sentenced on Thursday in federal court in Boston, in case stemming from an incident that led to the deaths of more than 100 patients.
Gregory Conigliaro, 57, of Southborough, was sentenced to one year in prison and one year of supervised release in connection with conspiring to defraud the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Conigliaro was convicted after a 41-day jury trial of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States in December 2018.
Conigliaro was the vice president and general manager of NECC, which in 2012 sent out drugs to patients that led to a fungal meningitis outbreak that killed more than 100 people and injured hundreds more.
NECC was founded in 1998 and began operations in 1999. The company made $32.4 million in sales in 2012 and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the same year. Gregory owned a 10% stake in NECC while Carla Conigliaro had 55% stake, Barry Cadden a 17.5% stake, and Lisa Conigliaro Cadden a 17.5% stake.
In 2021 Barry Cadden was sentenced 14 years in prison and ordered to pay forfeiture of $1.4 million and restitution of $82 million.
Carla Conigliaro was sentenced in 2018 to one year of probation and ordered to forfeit $4,600 and to pay a fine of $4,500. Her husband, Douglas Conigliaro, was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to forfeit $119,647 and to pay a fine of $55,000 in the same year.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts, Conigliaro served as the point of contact for state and federal regulators, and he conspired with his former co-owner and head head pharmacist, Barry Cadden, and others at NECC, “to misrepresent to the FDA and the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy that NECC was operating as a pharmacy dispensing drugs only pursuant to patient-specific prescriptions, when, in reality, NECC was shipping drugs in bulk across the nation for over a decade, evading regulatory oversight through fraud and misrepresentation.”
The U.S Attorney’s Office said NECC shipped drugs to customers from 2002 to 2012 without patient-specific prescriptions, but told the FDA and the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy it was sending patient specific drugs to customers while creating fraudulent prescriptions to present to regulators to hide NECC’s activities.
“Mr. Conigliaro and his co-conspirators repeatedly made the choice to put their greed over patient safety,” U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a press release on Thursday. “In turn, nearly 800 patients suffered terribly and over 100 died. Today's sentence sends a clear message to healthcare executives – if you lie to regulators, the outcomes can be deadly and we will hold you accountable.”
The criminal case arose after the nationwide outbreak of fungal meningitis, which was traced back to contaminated vials of preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate manufactured by NECC. More than 100 patients died and nearly 800 patients in 20 states were diagnosed with a fungal infection after receiving injections of MPA manufactured by NECC
After a two-year investigation, Conigliaro and 13 other owners, employees and associates of NECC were charged in a 131-count indictment in 2014.
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As always, justice was bought...
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