BOSTON – A New England Compounding Center (NECC) employee
was sentenced today in federal court in Boston in connection with working as an
unlicensed pharmacy technician at the compounding pharmacy in Framingham.
Scott M. Connolly, 47, of East Greenwich, R.I., was
sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to 24 months of
probation. In August 2018, Connolly pleaded guilty to 10 counts of mail fraud.
In December 2014, Connolly was indicted along with 13 others in connection with
the 2012 nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak originating from NECC. Connolly
cooperated with the government and testified during co-defendants’ trials.
Connolly was a licensed pharmacy technician from September
2007 to January 2009, when he voluntarily surrendered his license in connection
with a disciplinary action against him. Under Massachusetts regulations,
pharmacy technicians filling drug orders are required to be licensed.
Nevertheless, Connolly was hired at NECC and worked as a pharmacy technician
from 2010 through October 2012. Connolly was assigned to Clean Room 2 making
cardioplegia solutions that are used to stop patients’ hearts during heart
surgeries. For more than two years, Connolly produced thousands of cardioplegia
solutions that were sent to customers throughout the country. Connolly’s
unlicensed status was known to his supervising pharmacists, Barry Cadden, Glenn
Chin, and Gene Svirskiy.
To mask his presence from regulators, Connolly used Cadden’s
username and password to log into the computerized pump so that his name would
not appear on any paperwork generated when he filled the cardioplegia orders.
He also did not perform any of the required validation tests other pharmacy
technicians were required to do. Connolly’s employment file falsely listed him
as a warehouse employee.
The NECC criminal case arose from the nationwide outbreak of
fungal meningitis that was traced back to contaminated vials of
preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate (MPA) manufactured by NECC. The
outbreak was the largest public health crisis caused by a pharmaceutical
product.
In March 2017, Cadden was convicted by a federal jury of
racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud and introduction of
misbranded drugs into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud and
mislead. He was sentenced in June 2017 to 108 months in prison and three years
of supervised release. In October 2017, Chin was convicted of the same charges
and sentenced in January 2018 to eight years in prison and two years of
supervised release. In December 2018, Svirskiy was convicted of racketeering,
racketeering conspiracy, 10 counts of mail fraud, and two counts of
introduction of adulterated drugs into interstate commerce with intent to
defraud or mislead. He was sentenced in May 2019 to 30 months in prison and one
year of supervised release.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; FDA Acting
Commissioner Norman E. Sharpless, M.D.; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in
Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division;
Leigh-Alistair Barzey, Special Agent in Charge, Defense Criminal Investigative
Service, Northeast Field Office; Sean Smith, Special Agent in Charge of the
Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, Criminal Investigations
Division; and Joseph W. Cronin, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal
Inspection Service, Boston Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S.
Attorney Amanda P.M. Strachan, Chief of Lelling’s Health Care Fraud Unit, and
Assistant U.S. Attorney George P. Varghese of Lelling’s Criminal Division
prosecuted the case.
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