Dingell Calls for Compounding Pharmacists' Testimony Regarding Meningitis Outbreak

Press Release

Today, Congressman John D. Dingell (MI-12) joined House Committee on Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Ranking Member Diana DeGette, and Rep. Edward J. Markey to send a letter to Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Tim Murphy urging him to invite the head of the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists (IACP) to testify at the Committee's April 16 hearing on the recent meningitis outbreak.

The hearing will focus on why FDA has not acted more forcefully to protect the public from the risks of improperly compounded drugs. Internal IACP documents provided to the Committee reveal that for almost two decades, the organization lobbied aggressively and successfully to restrict FDA authority over compounding pharmacies, even when top IACP leaders were aware of significant public health risks from compounding.

Dingell and his colleagues wrote that "the information contained in IACP's documents helps explain why FDA would have had difficulty acting to regulate compounding pharmacies. Most importantly, the documents show why legislation that gives FDA clear authority to regulate compounding pharmacies is now necessary."

The Committee will be holding its second hearing into the deadly meningitis outbreak caused by contaminated injectable drugs on Tuesday, April 16, 2013.

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