LANSING – Attorney General Bill Schuette on Thursday announced another effort to try to better enforce regulations against compounding facilities like the New England Compounding Center largely held responsible for the national meningitis outbreaks last fall due to use of tainted pain killer drugs.

In addition to a grand jury and other investigations ongoing related to the matter, Schuette, alongside the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, are proposing legislation through Sen. Joe Hune (R-Hamburg) that the group says will involve enhanced accountability, record-keeping, criminal background checks on pharmacists and oversight.

“We owe it to the victims of this tragedy to ensure something of this magnitude does not happen again,” Schuette said at a press conference announcing the legislation. “It’s my hope that the passage of this legislation, combined with the outcome in our justice system, provides some level of closure to this unfolding health care emergency, which to this very day has people fighting for their lives in hospitals and clinics and offices around the state of Michigan.”

Clinics used the tainted drugs in Grand Traverse, Macomb, Livingston, and Genesee counties, Schuette said. In total, 264 illnesses 19 deaths have occurred in Michigan as a result of the tainted drugs.

Steve Arwood, director of LARA, said his department and the FDA have and continue to survey all the Michigan licensed compounding pharmaceuticals in and out of the state, as well as their practices, to “ensure the risk was minimized,” Arwood said.

“In particular, this legislation creates a pharmacist in charge, so that every pharmacy dealing with compounds will have somebody who is accountable at the top for detailed record-keeping on what is being compounded, what is coming through the state, what is coming through that pharmacy and what is being sold,” he said. “If a known risk is identified, we can then quickly go back through that chain, find out where it was manufactured, how it was manufactured, and to whom it was given.”

Arwood said he believes a person in this position will help the department to be able to respond faster to emergency situations.

“If that record-keeping is not accurate as to what that is, who got it, when, where, where it was manufactured and all that, our response can’t be as immediate,” he said.

Currently, compounding facilities in the state are licensed, but the manufacturers of the drugs that go to the facilities are a different story, Arwood said. It was not immediately clear if any manufacturers exist in Michigan.

Hune, who will sponsor the legislation, reiterated the points made by Schuette and Arwood, adding, “I tell you, from the reports and everything I know on the New England Compounding Center, it appeared it was probably filthier than the barnyard on my family’s farm.

“But I’m here to tell you, we’re here to make certain that this awful situation, this crap, never happens again,” he said, adding a story of a constituent who is still being treated for the ill effects of receiving tainted pain killers.

Schuette, citing an ongoing grand jury investigation, would not say whether having any of these steps in place would have prevented illnesses or deaths that stemmed from the national outbreak.

But Mark Totten, a Democrat running against Schuette in the 2014 election, said Mr. Schuette’s proposal is a hypocritical move. He continued to criticize Schuette for backing a law that bars lawsuits against prescription drug manufacturers whose products have approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“We must take every step to prevent a similar tragedy from ever happening again here in Michigan. But if Bill Schuette was serious about protecting Michigan citizens from medicines that harm or kill, he would immediately call for legislation repealing his outrageous drug immunity law he championed and passed as a state senator,” Totten said in a statement. “Schuette’s drug immunity law has left thousands of victims here in Michigan helpless, while losing millions of dollars for Michigan taxpayers.”

Schuette has said the comparison is flawed because the issue is tainted compounds, which are different than prescription drugs.

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